


When It Gets Hard 2

by wolfefanatic



Series: When It Gets Hard [2]
Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mpreg, OOC Rick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-07-22 19:03:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 65,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7450555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfefanatic/pseuds/wolfefanatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Horatio is missing. Ryan is pregnant. And Rick is being helpful. Lot's of panicked, and dramatic (maybe OOC) Ryan. (And definitely OOC Rick). Lots of weird and calm Rick. Warning: this story is so long, holy crap. Horatio/Ryan</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Times

Chapter One:

Alana was a happy squealing mess. She was as happy as a five year old could be. And as a toddler, she loved to do things like running around the house to avoid bedtime, screaming when she didn't want to do certain things, like going to bed on time, and hiding inside of her toy crate to not be found. Her child logic was if they couldn't find her, there was no way she could be put to bed. But of course she never got away with it.

Ryan absolutely adored his daughter. He thought she was the most beautiful child in the entire world. His whole life revolved around her. Alana was his happiness. But of course, at times he wanted to get away for a while. Preferably with his very loving boyfriend, Horatio. But Ryan was always very busy with working as a CSI and then coming home to take care of Alana and the house. He loved going places with his daughter. Particularly the park. Just earlier, she and Ryan had gone to the park. Ryan had only expected to be there for about an hour. But whenever he announced that it was time to go, Alana would throw a fit and run away and continued playing for another two and a half hours. And who was Ryan to deny his little girl happiness? He just couldn't do that. He was definitely the pushover, while Horatio was more firm.

Horatio had finally called Ryan and asked him when they were coming home. When Ryan had told him that their daughter refused to leave, Horatio told Ryan to hand the phone to her. Immediately, she tried to throw the phone, but Ryan quickly stopped her and told her that Horatio wanted to speak with her. With his tone, Alana knew to be skeptical about taking the phone. But she did anyways, and listened to Horatio speak. Before she was done, she said a small, meek "okay" and slowly gave the phone back to Ryan. Whatever Horatio had said to her seemed to mellow her out. But made her upset too. Horatio had already hung up the phone, while Alana started running off toward the car. Of course, Ryan had to run after her to stop his daughter from just running blindly into a parking lot. He held her hand and guided her to the car. He got her buckled up in the backseat and then drove back home.

The car ride was pretty quiet. Alana would usually demand for Ryan to put on her special CD that played songs obviously made for children. But today, she was quiet and seemed pouty. When Ryan had asked her what was wrong, she made a noise but didn't answer him. Ryan tried, and asked again. But she remained quiet. He couldn't force it out of her.

They pulled into the driveway, and Alana started fidgeting in her seat. Ryan saw her, but he didn't bother to ask again what was wrong. He knew he'd find out soon enough when they both went inside. Ryan got Alana unbuckled from her seat, took her hand and then led her up the driveway. He unlocked the door to his and Horatio's home and went inside and was welcomed by the smell of something baking. Alana visibly perked up, let go of Ryan's hand and ran past him to get into the kitchen.

Ryan smiled as he heard Horatio question their daughter with a stern, but playful "what do you think you're doing", and then her giggling loud. He followed into the kitchen and saw Horatio was putting Alana on the ground. Which wasn't anything new, since she loved to run inside the house. Horatio would always catch her mid-run, then pick her up to make her slow down. And then he'd release her. Alana smiled and walked over to the oven and tried to peek inside. "Cake?" She questioned.

Horatio nodded. "Cake."

Ryan gave Horatio a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down at the kitchen table. "What's the cake for, Horatio?"

"It's for tomorrow. Remember?" Horatio seemed shocked that Ryan had forgotten. "It's Natalia's birthday tomorrow, Ryan. And I said I'd make a cake, and you said-."

Ryan put his hands on his head. "I said I would bring snacks. I completely forgot to stop at the store."

"Well, no worries. We can go before work tomorrow." Horatio told him.

Alana had a pained expression on her face. "No cake?"

"Afraid not. Besides, don't you remember what I told you on the phone?" Horatio asked his daughter. She pouted, shuffled her feet and nodded her head yes. Well, now it was bothering Ryan that he didn't know what Horatio had said to her. "Alright, go get cleaned up for dinner." Horatio said.

Alana turned and walked very slowly out of the kitchen. Both men could hear her very slow footsteps going up the stairs.

"What happened?"

"I told her that after dinner, she's taking a bath and going straight to bed."

"Oh, no, why?" Ryan asked.

"Ryan, this is the third time that Alana has disregarded you telling her that it was time to go home. She does the same thing when you try to send her to bed; she runs away and hides. That has to stop and she has to be punished to learn her lesson." Horatio explained.

Ryan knew he was probably right. He never did like to punish Alana. He didn't like to see her upset. Although he knew Horatio didn't necessarily like to upset their daughter, either, Ryan knew that Horatio usually did what he thought was best. And more than usually, he did know.

Ryan sighed. "Right. Well, what's for dinner, then? I forgot to take something out."

Horatio nodded and came up behind Ryan. He leaned over the chair he was sitting on and wrapped his arms around him. Horatio kissed him on the neck, as Ryan smiled again. "I got a pizza instead. It's been a long day, so I figured we could just eat that and then go to bed." Horatio kissed him again. "What do you think?"

"Go to bed?" Ryan questioned.

Horatio chuckled. "Ryan, you know I don't mean sleeping."

"Oh, right. Well, in that case I think it sounds good." He answered. Ryan started looking around. "Well where's the pizza? I'm starving."

Alana had made her way back down the stairs and into the living room to join Ryan and Horatio. She sat on the couch in between the men, and continued to pout as they ate. They both kept urging her to eat, but she was in no mood to. Ryan almost told her that she could stay awake longer tonight if she would eat, but he knew that he'd be giving in. And he knew that Horatio would have been very upset at him if he did that. So Ryan had to remain quiet mostly.

"Alana eat your dinner." Horatio told her.

She stared at the plate in front of her, and then to Ryan with such wide eyes that he had to look away. He couldn't stand seeing her upset.

Horatio sighed and shook his head. Even he couldn't take the torture much longer. But he could still be firm in his bedtime decision. "Okay fine, how about this," he broke the heavy silence, "Alana if you finish your dinner and go to bed like the good girl I know you are, I will let you have a piece of cake."

Alana's blue eyes widened again but this time, in delight. "But it's for Natalia."

"She'll understand." Ryan chimed in. And with that, Alana happily bit into her pizza slice and was back to her normal, bouncy self again. Horatio looked upset, probably for letting himself even he had to admit that seeing Alana sad did get to him. Ryan grinned at Horatio, trying not to laugh at the fact that the stoic, stoney attitude had went away so fast. He nudged him softly, making Horatio roll his eyes and go back to eating his pizza.

After dinner, Horatio got Alana into the bathtub where she cleaned herself up. He had already laid her pajamas out for him, but of course she didn't want to wear the cute green pajamas with the little brown dog on it. She wanted to wear the even cuter pink pajamas with yellow cupcakes on them. And Horatio figured, sure, they're just for her to sleep in. She could wear what she wanted. As Horatio read her a quick bedtime story, Ryan decided to get into the shower.

Alana was absorbed in the story that she had heard a hundred of times already. What she loved most about it wasn't even the actual story. It was Horatio. He would make different voices for each character and that drew her in. She liked how he read it.

"Time for bed Alana."

Horatio and Alana turned and saw Ryan standing in the doorway. He held a towel, and was wiping his hair to get the excess water out of it. Horatio just stared at the shirtless man in front of him. The water from his hair had started to drip down to Ryan's shoulder, roll down his chest and onto the carpet. He had suddenly stopped talking, which made Alana curious. "What's wrong dad?"

Horatio shook his head and snapped back his attention to his daughter. "Nothing. I was just…" He chuckled to himself, not even bothering to finish his sentence. He didn't even know what to say. He couldn't tell his four year old daughter that he was checking out her other dad.

He heard Ryan laugh.

"Dad just hates when my hair's wet." Ryan explained. "It drips on the floor and it annoys him."

"You have to dry it." Alana told him.

Ryan smiled. "You're right. I should have thought of that."

"Another story?" Alana asked Horatio.

Ryan sucked in his breath. He was growing impatient. The truth was he and Horatio hadn't had sex in almost a month. To say he was needy to do it was an understatement. Horatio glanced at Ryan, and saw the disappointment on his face. "Alana, you have to go to bed. You have daycare in the morning. You don't want to be too tired to play with all your friends, right?"

Alana shook her head. "No."

"So can we skip the second story tonight?" Horatio questioned.

She nodded. "Okay. Goodnight."

Horatio gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead and told her goodnight. Ryan did the same, but kissed her on the cheek. Alana turned to her side and closed her eyes. Then the boys were off. Horatio had disappeared into the bathroom for a while, Ryan lay down while he waited.

When Horatio returned, he chuckled a bit. "You're not going to sleep on me, are you?"

Ryan's eyes opened slowly and he stared at the man in front of him, as if he were processing what he just said. "No, no. I'm awake. It's just as soon as I lay down on this bed, I get so sleepy."

Horatio crawled into the bed next to Ryan, and kissed him. "Well it's your fault for buying such a comfortable bed."

"Well excuse me if I thought that we deserved the best. And trust me, this bed is the best."

Horatio just nodded and hummed in response He kissed Ryan again on the lips, this time he actually reciprocated. Ryan opened his mouth slightly to allow Horatio more access. Horatio took that opportunity to slip his tongue inside. Horatio heard Ryan moan softly, and he noticed that his breathing slowed down. But he also noticed that Ryan didn't seem as into it.

"Ryan, do you want me to stop?"

"No, of course not. We haven't had sex in a while and tonight is the night." Ryan nearly pounced on Horatio at the mere mention of stopping. "We have to do it tonight."

"Well, we don't have to…"

Ryan sat upright, making Horatio do the same. "No, Horatio, we have to." He shrugged. "I mean, unless you suddenly don't want Alana and Kyle to have another little brother or sister like you've been bugging me about for the last 4 months. But I digress."

"Wait, Ryan are you serious?"

"So serious."

"You want another baby?"

"I don't see why not."

"Like, you want one right now?"

"Well, we can't have one right now, but if we have sex right now I calculate that we'll probably have one in about, let's say 9 months." Ryan answered.

Horatio just chuckled. He didn't even care that Ryan was being a smart-ass. All he cared about was the fact that he actually wanted to have another baby. Horatio wrapped his arms around Ryan in a tight hug. He was incredibly happy. Ryan in return, playfully rolled his eyes and huffed out a deep breath. But he held onto Horatio just as tight as he was holding him.

Ryan could feel Horatio's hands moving. They started on the small of his back and he hugged him. But gradually, Horatio's hands traveled down lower. Ryan lifted himself more, to give Horatio better access to grab his ass. Ryan kissed Horatio on his lips, this time much more vigorous than before. When they finally pulled away from each other, Ryan wasted no time in pulling down his shorts, and then trying to get Horatio's pants off. But of course Horatio had chosen this day to wear the most complicated belt in the world.

Ryan fumbled with the belt, his hands started shaking as he became more frustrated that he couldn't get the damned thing off. Horatio finally moved Ryan's hands away from him. "It's not a Rubik's cube, Ryan. It's a belt." He laughed at his own lame joke as he unbuckled the belt himself, sliding it off and tossed it onto the floor.

Ryan launched himself back at Horatio. He unbuttoned his pants for him, unzipped them and Horatio had to get off of the bed to actually take them off. When he did, he leaned back on the mattress, as Ryan had his hand pressed against his chest pushing him down.

Ryan took Horatio's cock out of his boxers and ran his index finger from the base all the way to the tip. He watched Horatio's face as he did so. Ryan had quickly discovered early into their relationship that Horatio liked to be teased. Not a lot, or else he'd get too frustrated, but a little.

He got off of the bed and dropped down to the floor onto his knees, putting his mouth over Horatio, sucking the head of his cock into his mouth. Horatio let out a low moan, being sure to keep quiet. He lifted himself slightly, being propped up by his elbows into the mattress so he could watch Ryan. Ryan went to work, licking and sucking the shaft, listening as Horatio said soft curse words under his breath. Ryan stopped moving though, when he felt a hand touching his hair. He knew what that meant.

Horatio gripped Ryan's hair, keeping him in place and he bounced, forcing his cock to continuously hit the back of Ryan's throat. Ryan closed his eyes tightly, breathing through his nose as well as he could. He put his hands on Horatio's thighs, this being the signal to stop. Horatio released Ryan's head, letting his cock fall out of his mouth and Ryan breathed in and out heavily for a few seconds. Ryan's eyes had tears in them, which was not unusual. At the beginning of their relationship, Horatio would have asked Ryan if he were okay. But now, he already knew. Ryan loved it.

Ryan started licking it again, doing it at his own pace this time. Horatio would occasionally grip his hair, and face-fuck him again but he stopped after a few seconds to let Ryan do it how he wanted.

Horatio leaned forward, and grabbed Ryan's arms. He forced him to get up off the floor, the towel he once had wrapped around his waist was now on the ground. Ryan laid down on his back, already feeling impatient and needy. Horatio reached into their bedside table and grabbed their lube bottle- one of many- and started squirting it onto his fingers. But Ryan grabbed Horatio's hand and shook his head. "No fingers."

"Are you sure?"

"Just want you now."

And Horatio was okay with that. He put a little bit more lube on his fingers and started rubbing it on his cock. He did insert both fingers inside of Ryan, to wipe the remainder of the liquid inside.

Horatio pushed in almost agonizingly slow. Ryan didn't want that, he just wanted to get fucked. He started to move his hips, but of course that didn't quite do the job. "Horatio go faster." He said. Horatio started working up to a faster speed, satisfying Ryan.

When he moved even faster, Ryan's body jolted and he moaned out loud. Horatio continued, grabbing a pillow and moving it closer. Ryan took the hint, and put the pillow over his own face, muffling his moans and keeping the to a minimum. Horatio continued thrusting into Ryan, even wrapping his fingers around Ryan's cock and pumping it a few times.

Ryan shuddered when he came, sending it right onto his own stomach and chest. He clenched his hole around Horatio's cock, making it even tighter. Horatio bit his lip and started thrusting faster and faster until he felt himself cumming. He came hard, inside of Ryan, groaning as he did and listening to Ryan's muffled slow moans.

He slowly pulled out of Ryan, panting.

Ryan tossed the pillow to the side and smiled. "Love you."

Horatio smiled too, and placed a kiss on Ryan's lips.


	2. Party

Two

When Natalia Boa Vista entered the break room, to say she was surprised was an understatement. She had wondered why the room had been so dark. So when she turned on the lights, she was scared half to death to see everybody pop out and scream "surprise".

She held her chest where her heart was and let out a laugh. "You guys scared me! This is for me?"

"Of course," Calleigh told her. "Happy birthday Natalia."

Natalia made her way around the room thanking and hugging people. She knew of course they would have to be quick, as their jobs were never laid-back. Something would happen soon that would cause them to have to go out and investigate.

Ryan kept eyeing the cake that Horatio had made. When they told Alana that she could have a piece, she took it upon herself to wake up before either of the boys did, go downstairs into the kitchen, locate the cake, dragged a chair to the counter to stand on it, and grabbed a fistful of cake. Then, Alana grabbed another and another. So they had to cut around the areas where there weren't little hand marks in the cake.

When Calleigh saw the cake, she immediately assumed it was Ryan, and asked why he couldn't wait to eat it. That made everyone else laugh, including Horatio. But it didn't make Ryan laugh.

"I'll be back," Horatio came up behind Ryan and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to go make sure I didn't miss any calls."

Ryan nodded. "Okay. Hurry back." He answered. Horatio excused himself from everyone else and left the room. Natalia made her way over to Ryan. He was standing by the wall by himself. Well, Walter was standing in front of him. But they weren't talking. Ryan seemed stand-offish. And even a little awkward, Natalia thought.

"Hey, Ryan."

"Hi Natalia. Happy birthday."

She hugged him. "Thank you. Oh, and thanks for all the bags of candy." She pointed to the table where 5 large bags of variety candies where. Ryan couldn't decide what kind to get and Horatio was rushing him in the store earlier that morning, so he just got them all. "I don't think we're going to eat them all though."

"Well at least you'll have enough for a year now." Ryan joked.

Natalia laughed and nudged him. "No way, that's too much." She sighed. "Hey, actually, why don't you take it?"

"Me?"

"Well, yeah, why not? Unless you don't want it. You could always give it to Alana." Natalia suggested. Ryan nodded. Natalia noticed that he was being stand-offish again. But still he smiled and nodded. "I'll ask Horatio. He doesn't really like to give Alana too many sweets. She gets quite the sugar rush when we do."

Natalia nodded in agreement, seemingly a little skeptical, but nonetheless, she excused herself to go speak with Calleigh. Ryan stood by the wall alone again. Everyone was enjoying themselves, talking and eating together. While Ryan was wondering when Horatio would be back. He hoped it would be soon. Though he was wondering what was taking so long.

The tension in the air became visibly tense. Everyone had suddenly stopped talking to each other. Ryan had become hyper aware of himself suddenly. He had spaced out for some time now, so he would have thought that everybody was wondering what the hell was going on with him. But no, everyone was probably wondering what the hell Rick Stetler was doing there.

The only time he came out of the IAB lab and down to their floor level was when he wanted to cause problems for the team. Mainly for Horatio since he'd always had it out for him. Rick had looked around the room for a few seconds before his eyes landed on Ryan. He pointed to him.

"Ryan; a word, please?" Rick's voice seemed to bellow in the quiet.

Ryan couldn't help rolling his eyes. It was a habit whenever he saw Rick. "Why?"

Rick shook his head, with a very smug look on his face. "No need to cause a scene. I just need to talk to you."

Ryan sighed. He reluctantly followed Rick out of the room. The rest of the CSI's watched in wonder. They had no idea what was going on. They were probably thinking that Ryan had gotten himself tangled up in some mess again. Which to be fair, even Ryan had to agree that had happened once, or twice or four times before. But he was fairly certain that he hadn't done anything questionable recently. He sighed. Where's Horatio when I need him?

He hadn't even noticed that they had stopped walking, were completely alone and Rick was staring at him questionably.

"Where's Horatio?" Rick asked him.

Ryan stared at Rick. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked around. They were in front of the elevators by the check-in desk. Ryan wondered where the receptionist was. "Wait, you pulled me out of a party just to ask where Horatio was?"

"You know parties are prohibited here, right?" Rick inquired. "This is a professional place, and there is crime out there in the world and I'm sure you all have evidence to sort through. I'm turning my head on this one, but please don't test my patience. Now where is Horatio?"

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know."

"How do you not know? You of all people should know!"

"What do you mean?"

Rick almost groaned at the question. "I mean, you two live together. You have a child whom you will not list the father as. You and Horatio come into work together every morning and leave together almost every night. It wasn't a hard code to crack, Ryan."

Ryan didn't say anything. He didn't really know what to say. So, Rick continued on. "Horatio, you, and I, and everybody else knows in this office that dating is not allowed. You can both be fired."

"Well, are you firing me?"

"No, I am making a point." Rick stated. "I'm saying it's obvious what's going on between you two. It's also obvious that everyone down here knows. I understand why you wouldn't tell me, I mean, I am IAB. Getting back to the point, what I mean is- where is Horatio? How do you not know where he is?"

The receptionist returned to her desk carrying a Styrofoam cup, probably full of coffee. She smiled sheepishly to Rick and Ryan. She knew she wasn't allowed to leave the desk in case visitors or people who weren't supposed to be there got through. She sat back at her desk and pretended to bury herself into an upside down book.

"Last time I saw him, he said he was going to go check to see any of his missed calls. Did you check his office?" Ryan asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure he wasn't in there?"

"Oh you mean his giant glass office that you can see right into? I didn't see him in there but it didn't occur to me that he could be hiding!" Rick snapped, causing the receptionist and Ryan to flinch unexpectedly. Rick sighed and lowered his voice. "I checked his office. He is not there. I also checked the bathrooms. No sign of him. But his car is still out there. I checked the security cameras and I don't see him on it. It's like he just disappeared into thin air."

Ryan looked back to the secretary, who had her eyes fixated on the two, obviously trying to eavesdrop. When she and Ryan made eye contact, she quickly looked back to her book. Ryan grabbed Rick's hand and pulled him away from the area. The men went past the receptionist, and past the break room where the others were. They could all see them walking past. Of course they all wanted to know what was going on but they couldn't just ask.

Ryan pulled Rick into Horatio's office. Of course, just like he had said, Horatio wasn't in there. But he shut the door behind. Some people walked by, gawking at the two inside of the lieutenants office. Ryan rolled his eyes and closed the curtain that Horatio had installed a couple years ago.

Rick stared at the curtain. "How have I not seen this? When did Horatio get this?"

"A couple years ago." Ryan didn't want to admit to Rick that Horatio had bought the curtain right after Ryan had told him how exciting he thought it'd be to have sex in his office. "Um, so back to the problem; you're telling me Horatio is missing?"

Rick nodded. "Right. Yeah, I was looking for him to talk about some things but I couldn't find him anywhere. His car is still here. His cellphone doesn't seem to be here, though. I checked the security cameras but the only shots are of him leaving the break room, then nothing."

"What do you mean 'nothing'?" Ryan asked, his voice raising a little, obviously freaked out.

"I mean nothing. The screen goes completely black. No sign of him anywhere." Rick told him. "Now, I don't want you to panic-"

"You don't want me to panic!?" Ryan yelled. "Horatio is missing, and you don't want me to panic?"

"Shh, Ryan, be quiet. I don't want anyone else to hear."

"Why not? We should be investigating this right now."

"We can't."

"You mean you won't?" Ryan questioned.

Rick quickly shook his head. "No. I mean, we can't. Come with me to my office and we'll talk more there." Rick started for the door. "But first, go tell the others that you're leaving early for the day. Say you're sick or something, I don't know."

"But, Rick-"

"Just trust me on this. We can't get any of them involved. Meet me in my office when you're finished." Rick instructed. He stayed as if he were waiting for Ryan to say something else. And maybe he was, but Ryan had no words to speak. Rick opened the door and left Ryan alone with his own thoughts. Internally, Ryan was freaking out. He was sure that maybe it did actually show on his face. Trust Rick? Horatio was gone and he had no idea where he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I jumped right into the drama, didn't I? I know some like a slow-build but I really wanted to establish the plot early on. Oh and don't worry, you'll find out why Ryan was acting so odd in another chapter... or two.. or maybe like five. Also guys, I know WIGH had a few mature, scenes kind of tossed in there along with a story line. But this one is more focused on Horatio being missing and that case. So if you're disappointed, sorry. I promise there will be more sex scenes but it really won't come until much later.


	3. Missing

Three:

Ryan was surprised to see Dave sitting in Rick's office. Rick was sitting in his chair, Dave was kneeling next to him, both men were staring at something in Dave's hands.

Dave noticed Ryan first. He immediately stood up. "Hey shut the door." He said. "We don't want anyone else to hear."

"Wait, so Dave knows and I couldn't tell someone that could _actually_ help me find Horatio?" Ryan asked, completely flabbergasted. He saw the face Dave made. "Ouch, Ryan." Dave murmured as he went back to looking at what was in his hands.

Rick shook his head. "No, I had already talked to Dave before I found you. I needed someone to take a look at the security tapes. I'm kind of clueless when it comes to that stuff. Take a seat, Ryan." Rick explained, pointing to the chair across from his desk. "I asked Dave because, well, I needed him and I didn't want to involve anyone else."

"Well no offense to Dave, but why is he the one you went to? Why not Calleigh; she is really good at solving things. So is Eric. Why can't we ask them?"

Dave shook his head. "Uh, Rick, maybe you should show it to Ryan now."

Ryan watched as the two men exchanged glances. The looks were enough to make Ryan even more nervous than he already was. And his boyfriend was missing; that said a lot.

But Ryan couldn't take it anymore. Horatio was missing and Dave and Rick were so calm about it. Ryan couldn't possibly be calm knowing that the man he loved was gone. And what would he tell Alana?

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Ryan asked, his panic fully showing now. His voice quivered as he spoke.

Rick sent Dave another look. That time, it said 'nice going, idiot' in Ryan's mind. Rick sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small crumpled up piece of paper. He slowly unrolled it, and then just as slow handed it off to Ryan. "This is why we can't tell anyone else, Ryan." Rick said softly, his tone of voice changing from his usual demanding tone. "I found it on Horatio's car. It wasn't there the first time I checked, but after we spoke I went back outside just to be sure and there it was. I told Dave before I even saw it, so now Dave's being sworn to secrecy right now. His job depends on it."

Ryan held the paper for a moment before he read it. He was feeling anxious, but the moment he read the words on the paper he felt instant dread.

"'He's gone'," Ryan read out loud, "'don't look for him. Don't tell anyone else he's gone. No investigations. People will die, including Horatio'."

The room had gotten quiet. No one really knew what to say. Dave and Rick didn't want to say anything to make it worse or to set Ryan off. They wanted him to say something first. And that did happen, kind of. Ryan let out a slew of curse words, along with muttering things like 'this can't be real', and 'this isn't happening'.

Dave decided to bite the bullet and spoke. "There's some more on the back."

Ryan didn't even want to know. But he had to. "'6. Under'." He frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"

"We don't know. I'm having Dave check out the surveillance footage to see if there's something to it or if he can figure out. Maybe you can look at the note; see if there's anything on it? And maybe think of someone you might know that would do this. But Ryan, I can't stress this enough- you can't tell anyone. We don't know who it is, or what they're capable of. We can't risk an innocent, or anyone in the lab, or even Horatio getting hurt." Rick said.

Dave nodded, agreeing with Rick. "Yeah. I swear I won't tell anyone either. I'm going to go ahead and take this tape downstairs and look at it again."

"Wait, can I see it?" Ryan asked.

Dave looked back to Rick again, asking for permission with his eyes. Rick nodded. Dave had the tape in his hands. He put it into the large, very old VCR player that Rick had in his office. He turned it on and then started fast-forwarding it to the part they needed it. "When you came in, Rick and I were looking at the tape to see if it showed any signs of being tampered with. It does."

He pushed the play button when he saw both Horatio and Ryan on the screen. They were both entering the break room when they stopped suddenly. Horatio had whispered something to Ryan, which made him smile very largely, and Dave, Rick and Ryan both watched clear as day as Horatio groped Ryan's butt.

Under normal circumstances, Ryan would have been horrified that Dave and Rick witnessed that. But they had more important things to get to. At least there was no sound. He was sure his face would have been red if the guys had heard Horatio telling Ryan that he wanted to fuck him again. Rick cleared his throat and Dave fast-forwarded the tape again. He stopped again when he saw Horatio emerging from the room. He turned left, which is where his office is. But then the tape just cuts to black. Just as Rick had stated. After three seconds of darkness, it is visible to see that a chunk of the tape is missing, and Rick going into the break-room.

Ryan just wanted to break down. All he could think about was Horatio's well-being and what he would tell Alana when he didn't come home tonight.

Ryan almost jumped when he heard Rick's voice, snapping him back to reality. "Maybe you should go home and rest for the day. You can come in tomorrow if you want to look at the note again."

"Wait, wait, wait, should Ryan be going home alone?" Dave asked. "Someone just kidnapped our lieutenant inside the crime lab. This person or people obviously put a lot of thought into this and are good. What if they're at the house waiting for Ryan to come back? He could be in danger, too."

"That's a good point. Okay, Dave and I will accompany you home." Rick said.

"What?" Dave's eyes widened. "I don't even own a gun."

"And you should have both of our numbers. So, if anything that happens out of the ordinary- anything at all- or you just don't feel safe, you can call either one of us."

Ryan just nodded. He thought it was weird that Rick was being so nice to Ryan. He might have even dared to say 'caring', even. But he didn't want to question it. Not yet anyways. His mind was a mess right now. He barely even registered Dave telling him that he'd take him home. But he let his feet follow Dave out of the room, to the elevators and to the parking garage. They got into Dave's car and then drove with Rick following behind them. Ryan was sure that anyone that saw the three of them leaving together had questions. Ryan just wished he had the answers.


	4. Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning: There's an Of Mice And Men book spoiler, so if you're still in high school literature, be prepared.

Four:

"But I want dad!" Alana whined.

Only one night without Horatio and things had already gone to shit. Sure, there had been times where Ryan wouldn't see Horatio for days at a time. But that was usually because Horatio was traveling for work. This was majorly different. Horatio Caine was missing and there wasn't a damned thing Ryan could do.

It was now morning and Ryan was struggling to get Alana dressed for preschool. Usually in the mornings, Horatio would be the one to help her get ready while Ryan made her breakfast and lunch for the day later. But since Horatio wasn't there, Ryan had to try to do both.

"Dad isn't here right now," Ryan told her. "I told you last night he had to leave for work. So please just be a good girl and go get dressed. We can't be late."

"But dad has to do my hair!"

"I will do your hair."

"I don't like the way you do it." Alana answered.

Ryan sighed. "Alana, _please_." He was at his end.

Alana shook her head. "When is he coming back? I miss dad."

"Soon." I hope, he thought. "He'll be home soon so can you please just get dressed while I finish packing your lunch? I have a lot to do today."

Alana stared hard at Ryan. Then in defiance, she crossed her arms across her chest, shook her head no and stamped her foot on the ground. It was her way or nothing at all. She wanted Horatio to be there. And so did Ryan.

He couldn't hold it in anymore.

First it came out as a harsh dry sob. But then, tears formed quickly into Ryan's eyes and he was crying. He put his hands on his face, trying to dry the tears but they just kept coming. Alana's eyes widened dramatically and immediately she ran to Ryan, wrapping her small arms around his legs, as she couldn't reach up high yet. She was too short. "I'm sorry, I'll go get dressed. Please don't cry." She told him.

Ryan shook his head as he held on tightly to Alana. "I'm fine. Just go and hurry please? And I'll just buy you something for lunch."

Alana nodded, but she didn't let go yet. First she looked up to Ryan, probably trying to make sure he was in fact, fine. But she still saw the tears. "You're still crying. You're not fine."

"I will be fine. Don't worry about it, okay?" Ryan sniffled and wiped another tear from his eye. "You go to preschool and have fun with your friends. Then afterwards I'll take you to the park. That sounds fun, right?"

She agreed. That did sound like fun. Alana slowly let go of Ryan's legs and started for the stairs. Before she got completely up them, she turned to glance back at Ryan, trying to see if he was still crying. But he had already turned away and was finishing up her breakfast.

When Ryan entered the lab, everyone noticed that he looked off. It looked as if he'd been up all night. Which was true; Ryan couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about Horatio. He even tried to call his phone twice but both times it just went straight to voicemail. So, it was either turned off or dead. All night he thought the worst. What if Horatio was hurt, or worse and Ryan didn't even know it? But then again, Horatio was tough and very strong. Ryan knew that Horatio was also more than capable of taking care of himself. But even the greatest had their limits.

"Hey, Wolfe, why so down?" Eric's cheerful voice usually would make Ryan instantly happy. But not today. "You look lost. Like someone stole your puppy." He chuckled.

Ryan smiled anyways. "I'm fine, I guess I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Oh yeah, must be rough without Horatio." Eric nodded.

"Huh? You know about that?"

Eric laughed again and pat Ryan's shoulder. "Of course I do. Rick came down and told us we'd better be on our best behaviors since Horatio's on vacation. I felt like I was in high school again getting scolded by my teacher."

Ryan breathed out. So Rick told everyone Horatio was on vacation? Well, it was a good excuse, Ryan had to admit. He hadn't even thought about what he'd say to the others in the lab when they questioned where Horatio was. All he kept thinking about was Alana and how they both handled it. "I just can't believe he didn't tell us. I've known H for what feels like forever and he always lets us know important things like that first. It's like he just up and left." Eric told Ryan.

Ryan sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. It was a kind of a spontaneous vacation. I couldn't go with him because there's just so much here that needs to be done. Besides, he really needs the break anyways. He does so much."

Eric agreed with Ryan. "He does. Anyways, I have to go out to the field. But um," Eric dropped his voice down to a whisper and looked around before he continued, "Rick told me to let you know he's looking for you and needs to see you immediately; what's that about? And why is Dave spending so much time in there? Are they, _you know_?"

"Rick and Dave? Oh no, no, no. It's nothing like that. Dave and Rick are friends. And Rick told me that while Horatio's on vacation I needed to run things by him." Ryan lied.

Eric's face twisted up. "You have to report to IAB?"

"Yeah, go figure. Don't you have to go?"

"Right, yeah, I'll see you, Wolfe." Eric pat him again and was off. Ryan watched Eric walk past the reception desk and to the elevators. Ryan let his eyes wander to scan the room. Everything looked normal, but then again why wouldn't it? Well, there was a kidnapping just the other day. But just as Dave said yesterday, whoever did it had to have been smart. And they definitely had to know the layout of the lab. And had to know where Horatio was.

Ryan slowly made his way to the elevator. He noticed the receptionist was gone again. Probably out getting another coffee. He hoped for her sake that no one in charge would see her constantly leaving her desk, because she'd definitely be fired. But then again, she should really have been at her desk to check people in and out. After all, whoever made off with Horatio probably got passed the front because the receptionist was gone.

When the elevators dinged and he was on the IAB floor, he made his way into Rick's office. Rick was sitting at his desk, reading something. Dave was sitting the opposite of him, on his phone looking intently.

"So he's vacationing?" Ryan questioned, making his presence known. Both men looked up at him. Rick nodded. "Yeah, I figured that was the best route to go. He's in Hawaii, just to let you know."

"Great." Ryan answered dryly. "What are you guys doing?"

Dave held up his phone. "I was able to hack into Horatio's phone from my own."

"I'm not even gonna ask how you did that."

"It's simple if you know what you're doing. Anyways, there's like nothing here- just some texts and calls to you, Kyle and occasionally some people from the lab. But nothing out of the ordinary." Dave told him. "I tried tracking it. But the signal was cut off in the labs parking lot and hasn't came back."

Ryan sighed. That wasn't something he wanted to hear. He probably needed to know that, but it didn't make it better to hear Dave say.

"I'm looking through the sign-in sheet from downstairs. I've talked to that woman about leaving her desk; hopefully she listens." Rick said.

_Well, obviously she isn't listening._

"Did you find anything on the sign-in sheet?" Ryan asked him, hopeful.

Rick heard the hope in his voice. "I'm afraid not. Sorry, Ryan. We're working on it. Did you want to take a look at the note; maybe check it for DNA and whatnot? Ours will be on it so you'd obviously have to exclude us."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I'll look at it. But what should I say if anyone asks what I'm working on?"

Rick shrugged. He didn't care about what the CSI's did. "Just tell them you're working on a project for me."

"By the way, you two shouldn't be spending so much time in here alone." Ryan warned them both. "It makes it obvious that something is going on and since people don't know what, they are talking."

"Talking?" Rick questioned.

Dave rolled his eyes. "They think we're fucking." He shook his head. "Good point, though. I'll finish up looking through the phone downstairs."

Rick's eyes almost bulged out of his head when he heard the word 'fucking'. Ryan would have laughed if the situation at hand wasn't so serious. Dave pinched Ryan's shirt collar, and tugged it to get Ryan to snap back to reality. Ryan looked at him, Dave just smiled in return. Ryan let himself follow Dave back to the elevator to get downstairs again. They were both relatively quiet. Really, there wasn't much to say. When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, Dave stepped out. "I'll let you know if I find something." He told him. And Ryan nodded, and that was it. Dave walked off, leaving Ryan alone with the receptionist. She smiled sweetly to him. Ryan returned the smile as genuinely as he could but he felt like it came off as a grimace anyways.

He got off of the elevator and made his way down the halls to the examination room to look at the note. Luckily, no one else was in there. He knew that Eric was out on a call, so either Calleigh or Natalia was probably with him. Valera wouldn't be on this side of the lab anyways as she practically had her own area. Walter was probably out at the scene too.

Ryan put on his gloves, although he felt like it was probably too late and useless at this point. He, Rick and Dave had been touching the note a lot anyways. With everything that had happened, Ryan didn't even think about preserving the note so their DNA wouldn't get onto it. He was sure Rick and Dave hadn't either, they'd probably say something about it. As a CSI, Ryan thought he'd know that immediately. And there really wasn't a good reason for him to not know how to handle evidence, despite his freaking out over Horatio. He had to hold it together. A single mess-up could ruin everything.

When Natalia entered the room, Ryan nearly jumped out of his skin.

She chuckled as she approached him slowly. "You alright; I didn't mean to scare you? Although I guess you do deserve it since you and Horatio were the masterminds behind my birthday surprise yesterday."

Ryan nodded, laughing, although he knew it probably sounded awkward. "Yeah, right. No, I'm fine," he shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders. "I just thought that maybe you would be out on the scene with Eric."

"Nope, Calleigh went. Walter's there, too. No need for me, I guess. So it's just you and me. So, what are we working on?" Natalia pointed to the little note on the table, and tried to usher Ryan to the side so she could get a closer look. But, Ryan planted himself firmly where he was so she wasn't able to move him. Not far, anyways.

Ryan shook his head and turned off the machine he was using to observe the note.

"Actually, I'd prefer to work on this by myself, if you don't mind."

"Well what are you working on?"

"Uh, just, you know, some," Ryan paused and sighed, not able to think of what to say, "stuff."

"Some stuff?"

"Important stuff."

Natalia slowly nodded, and walked around Ryan, trying to peek at the paper. Obviously something was up, and she wanted to know what it was. "You know, you've always been a little odd but since yesterday at my party, I noticed something's been up with you. What is it, Ryan, you know you can talk to me?"

"Yeah, I know." He answered. Ryan had been acting different. At the party, he was noticeably uncomfortable after Horatio left. But then Horatio went missing and now it was even more obvious that something was going on.

Natalia looked around. "This doesn't have to do with Rick, does it?"

"No, of course not." Ryan lied. Natalia had known him long enough to know when he was being less than truthful with her.

"I knew something was up when Eric told me that Rick was looking for you. And not to mention him coming after you yesterday. What happened, Ryan? You're not in trouble are you?" Natalia's voice was full of worry. Ryan felt bad for making her that way. But, he was also annoyed that Eric immediately told Natalia that Rick was looking for him. Knowing Eric, everyone else probably knew, too.

"Natalia, I am not in trouble."

"You're not like, a double agent, again, are you?" She laughed. "Because Ryan, when you challenged my protocol, I was pissed. I hope you're not doing that again."

Ryan shook his head. "No, of course not. You're great, Natalia. Everyone here is. I just really want to look at this alone. If I get the results I'm hoping for, I'll let you know as soon I can."

"Okay."

"And please, don't tell anyone about this."

Natalia nodded and made her way to the door again to leave. "Alright, Ryan. Just don't get into trouble." She warned.

Ryan sighed deeply, and went back to looking at the note.

~

"There's nothing!" Ryan exclaimed. "I checked for biological's- blood, hair, other body fluids- nothing. I checked for prints- finger and palm prints, even footprints. Not a damn thing is on it. There's always at least one little piece of DNA left behind but there's nothing here."

Ryan was currently in Rick's office on the IAB floor. The door was shut so no one would hear the conversation, but Ryan was so worked up he was practically screaming at him.

Rick, though, seemed cool and calm. He was leaning back in his black leather chair, with a book in his hands and his head buried in it. Rick only hummed in response, and nodded his head, which only infuriated Ryan.

He walked over to Rick, and stared at the book in his hands. "What book is that?"

"Of Mice and Men." Rick answered, not even looking up.

"I read that in high school. Have you read it before?"

"No, I haven't."

Ryan nodded and hummed. "Hmm. Well then," Ryan grabbed the book out of Rick's hands and threw it across the room, causing one of the old pages to rip out. "Lennie snaps Curley's wife's neck and kills her, so George shoots him in the head. There- that's how it ends. Now can you focus on Horatio and this damn note."

Rick stared at Ryan. "That wasn't very nice and highly uncalled for, Ryan."

"Rick-"

"I was listening. So, calm down and quit your yelling because I heard every word. We will find Horatio. Right now, I just need you to be calm."

"You keep telling me to be calm, but I don't think you understand the situation here." Ryan answered, his voice lowering. "My boyfriend is missing. The father to my daughter is missing. What the hell am I supposed to tell Alana if he's not back in a week, or a month? What do we tell the lab? What happens if his body comes up? We are not even one step closer to finding out what happened."

Rick looked incredulously at Ryan, as if what he had said was false. "You're right, I don't understand what it's like to have my boyfriend and the father to my kid go missing- I don't have those things so it'd be a little hard for me to understand that. But, I do know what it's like to lose someone I care for. And I know what it's like to be worried. But I also know that panicking isn't going to solve anything. It's just going to rile everyone else around you up. Remaining calm is central. If you panic, Alana will see it and she will, too. Okay?"

"...Okay."

"And what do you mean we're not even a step closer to finding out? Of course we are."

"We are?"

"Well, the receptionist is obviously involved. Come on Ryan, it's definitely not a coincidence she disappears right before the security tapes get messed up. Then she comes back, and then suddenly that note appears. She's involved but we can't just cuff her and interrogate her-"

"Because that counts as an investigation." Ryan answered.

"- We can't risk something happening to Horatio. We'll somehow have to get her to confess."

"Great; that doesn't seem hard at all." Ryan replied, rather sarcastically.

Rick chuckled, dryly. "I had his car towed and impounded. Maybe you want to check it and dusted for fingerprints and other DNA. Although it might be useless since the note came up clean, the car might, too."

"Where is it?"

"I had it towed to a place just a little outside the city; we couldn't risk some sleazy chop shop owner recognizing Horatio's car, right? Anyways, you and I can head out there to check it out, it has to be outside of office hours, though. Just let me know when you're free." Rick had stood and crossed the room. He picked up his book, the stray page and retreated back to the seat and sat down. Rick sighed deeply as continued reading, letting Ryan excuse himself from his office.


	5. Rick to the Rescue

Five:

Alana didn't like having a babysitter. She preferred to have one of her dad's home with her. It was just more fun that way. Fun for her, a bit draining on Ryan and Horatio though.

When Horatio and Ryan would go out- it was a rare occasion but it did happen sometimes- they would ask either Calleigh or Natalia to watch Alana. But Calleigh was pretty busy with Austin and Patty, the two kids she had adopted years back. And Natalia had gotten herself a nice, normal boyfriend and the two quickly moved in together. Calleigh and Natalia both had their own lives and naturally, Ryan and Horatio didn't want to impose on them. That of course, made date night for the men a little hard.

There was one girl that Alana liked. She was a typical teenager, and Alana seemed to really look up to her. Alana had a big brother to look up to, but she didn't have a sister. So, it was nice for her to interact with others. But last year, her babysitter left the city for college. Alana was pretty devastated. So much that she would constantly ask her fathers when she was coming back to play with her. But she wasn't any time soon. And when she did visit, she would hang out with her family and friends. She would see Alana in passing, but she didn't really have the time anymore to hang out with her. No one else would do. Alana would have a fit.

So, when Ryan told Alana that she would have a babysitter, she almost lost it.

Alana immediately started yelling about how she was a big girl and didn't need a babysitter. Of course, that was obviously false. Ryan just sighed and shook his head. "Alana, I have somewhere important to go. I can't leave you alone."

"Where are you going? Can you just stay home?" She pouted.

"I'm afraid not. I have work to do today. So, you have to be really nice to your babysitter." Ryan told her. "And I won't be gone long. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Alana nodded. "Okay. When will dad call? I miss him."

Ryan thought for a moment. "I miss him, too. I think he'll call soon, he's just been busy. But I know he misses you a lot."

She smiled. "Okay, good. Can I go color now?"

"Sure."

Alana ran off, up the stairs and out of Ryan's sight. He really didn't think about it, but he had hoped that she meant coloring in her book and not on the walls like last time. As Ryan stepped on the stairs, ready to go up to make sure Alana wasn't turning her pink walls into a canvas again, the doorbell rang twice.

Then came the frantic knocking.

Alana poked her head around the corner upstairs, locking eyes with Ryan. Her eyes full of wonder. But before she could ask who was at the door, Ryan calmly told her to stay in her room.

Ryan made his way to the front door. It was made with privacy glass, so it wasn't transparent. But it was translucent enough for Ryan to make out the shape of a man standing there. Ryan hurriedly grabbed his gun and made his way to the door, where the knocking was persisting. He pulled open the door and almost had a heart attack when he saw Rick standing there with a gun pointed at him also.

"Rick, what the hell are you doing here pointing a gun at me?" Ryan asked him, voice hushed so Alana wouldn't hear him upstairs.

Rick sighed and slowly lowered the weapon. "Are you okay? Why are you pointing your gun at me?"

"Because most people knock or ring the doorbell like a normal person." Ryan answered. "If it's frantic like that, usually something is wrong. And excuse me for not feeling safe the last week or so. You didn't answer my question- why are you here? I thought we were meeting at the lot."

"Yeah, we were but I thought something had happened to you so I came straight here. Dave called and said you were in trouble, so…"

"Wait, why did Dave say that?"

"He figured it out. Remember the note said '6. Under.'? Well, Dave had a hunch and checked under locker six. There was a note taped there. He said he tried calling you and it went straight to voicemail, so here I am; seeing if you were safe."

"My hero. I turned my phone off while it's charging." Ryan said, dryly. "What did the note say?"

Rick opened his mouth, but then closed it and shook his head. "I don't want to worry you…"

Well, now I'm worried.

"... So, I'm not going to tell you. Just know it insinuated that you, Horatio and Alana are not safe."

"So, you came here to save me alone? Where's Dave; let me guess, he's hiding somewhere 'safe'?" Ryan asked.

Rick chortled. "Yeah, he said since he didn't have a gun he wasn't equipped enough to save you if you were in danger. But he said he'll meet us at the towing place. So, go get Alana and let's go."

"Get Alana?"

"Ryan, you heard me right? I said that you and Alana were not safe. Obviously, she cannot stay here right now. What if someone comes that's not supposed to be here?" Rick asked, almost rolling his eyes at Ryan now.

"I guess you're right. I can just call the sitter and cancel though it is last minute."

"Alright, so go get her. She can stay at my place."

"Alone?"

This time, Rick did roll his eyes. "Of course." He answered sarcastically. "No, not alone, Wolfe. My niece is at my house anyways. She's 15, she can watch Alana."

Ryan nodded, not missing that Rick rolled his eyes at him but he didn't comment on it. He started for the stairs to go get Alana, but to his surprise, she was already coming down the stairs with a small book bag. "Dad said 'always be _paired_ , Alana'. I have my coloring books packed and some pajamas." She said paired, when she obviously meant prepared. She looked up to Rick. She had only seen him a handful of times but never had spoken to him before. "Hi mister, I'm Alana. Is your niece nice? Will she like coloring?"

Ryan saw the corners of Rick's mouth rise slightly, but they fell just as fast. "I think she does. Why don't you find out?"

"Okay. I'm ready, daddy." She told Ryan.

Ryan stared down at his daughter, wondering just how much of their conversation she had heard. He was hoping she didn't hear the 'danger' part but was sure she hadn't because she'd be panicking at least a little bit. "I just have to grab my phone and I'll be ready. I'll meet you both outside, while I lock up." He wasn't the least bit surprised that Horatio told Alana to always be prepared and the fact that she had a bag for emergencies.

Alana nodded and walked ahead of Rick, looking back when he hadn't started following. Ryan was walking toward the kitchen, but Rick was just standing there staring at him walk away. "Mister, aren't you coming?"

Rick looked back at her. "Of course. You lead the way."

She turned back and continued on out the door, this time Rick was following her. "And don't call me 'mister'- it makes me feel older. My name is Rick."

"Okay Mister Rick." Alana responded.

"That's close enough, I guess." Rick and her made it to his car. He opened the backseat door for her. Alana promptly climbed inside and fastened her seat-belt. When Ryan came outside, he got into the car through the passenger side with Rick in the driver's side. As he put on his seat-belt, he glanced back to Alana, who was staring at Rick.

"Alana, what's wrong?"

She shook her head and diverted her eyes down to her feet.

"I'm sorry she keeps staring at you." Ryan said to Rick. "She just doesn't really know you."

"No, I understand. It's completely fine." Rick told him.

Rick pulled out of the driveway, and the three were off.


	6. Pregnant

Six:

"So, this is Horatio's car, huh?" Dave asked, as he climbed into the backseat.

Ryan sighed as he took off his gloves and tossed them into a trashcan. "Yeah, this is it."

"Sucks we didn't find much on it."

"Well we found a hair that is definitely not Ryan or Horatio's." Rick chimed in.

"But we have no matches for it." Ryan answered. "It's not in our system. It's practically useless."

All three of them were quiet. Ryan was because he was obviously upset. Dave and Rick were quiet because they knew Ryan was upset and neither of them knew what to do to help. Really, there wasn't anything they could say or do in this situation.

"Hey Ryan, things will be okay." Dave said softly. "I'm sure Horatio's waiting patiently for you to come and save him right now."

Ryan shook his head. "I don't know. What if we're overlooking something? Or, what if-"

"Stop with the 'what ifs' already." Rick snapped. "What if we're not overlooking anything and we're actually on the right track?"

"Hey, cut Ryan some slack. I wouldn't even know what I'd do if something like this happened to me." Dave defended Ryan. Rick almost retorted with something. But instead, he kept his mouth shut and walked away from the two. Ryan sighed again as he sat down next to Dave in the backseat. "Thanks Dave."

"Oh, no problem. And don't mind Rick. You know how he is." Dave told him. "His heart is made of stone. And ice."

"Stone ice?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Dave chuckled. Ryan smiled, too and let out a small laugh.

The two were relatively quiet for a while. Both wondered where Rick had gone, but neither of them bothered to get up and go look for him. They just figured he was throwing a hissy fit and would be back soon enough.

Ryan pulled out his phone and glanced at it. He didn't have a single message or call from Alana. He was wondering how she was doing seeing as she didn't like having a babysitter. When he and Rick had dropped her off at Rick's place with his niece, Jasmine. Ryan had told her that she could call him if she had any problems. Jasmine also told Alana that she could borrow her cellphone to send Ryan a message if she wanted. But so far, there was nothing.

His mind was racing, per usual, but he didn't want it to show. Rick told Ryan that Dave found another note. And it definitely was something bad. Bad enough to the point where Rick showed up at his house with his gun aimed already. But he wouldn't tell him what it had said.

"Hey Dave?" Ryan inquired.

"Hmm?" Dave hummed in response.

"So, Rick told me you found a note under locker six."

"Yeah, I did. And it wasn't a lucky guess either." Dave explained. "I first checked under table six, under mailbox six, in room six, and then locker six."

"That's smart thinking. What did the note say?"

"Rick didn't tell you?"

"No."

Dave pursed his lips together and furrowed his eyebrow. "Yeah, that's probably for the best."

Ryan groaned. "Damn it, will someone tell me what it said?"

Dave shook his head, as the two noticed Rick was walking back toward them holding something in his hand. Ryan stopped prying, knowing Rick would probably get pissed at him for asking Dave about the note behind his back. Even though Ryan felt he had the right to know what it said.

Dave was the first to ask Rick what he was holding. Rick snapped at him and told him to 'calm down and let him talk'. Dave and Ryan exchanged glances but remained silent as they waited for Rick to speak.

"I talked to the owner again. He said that yesterday a couple came in and tried to sign Horatio's car out." Rick said to them. "He asked them for I.D and a way to prove the car was theirs- as he knew it wasn't since I'm the one who had it brought in. They of course, didn't have any and left, saying they'd be back with proof. But they didn't come in. Here's the names they left."

Ryan took and the paper and read the names out loud. "Red and Tiffany. Well, I have a feeling Red isn't his real name."

Dave nodded. "So, we should probably check the database for anyone going under the name Red. And for a Tiffany. Do they have security camera's here? I could take a look at them and see if we can get a clear face of the two."

Rick smirked. "He will have the tapes sent to the lab Monday morning. Right now, they're closing so we gotta go."

Ryan got out of the backseat first, with Dave behind him. Dave ended up darting ahead of the other two, leaving them walking after him.

As Ryan walked, he was suddenly stopped by his hand being grabbed. He turned and faced Rick, who was already standing pretty close to him. "I told you we were on the right track." Rick said, quietly.

Ryan nodded. "You were right."

"I usually am."

"I wouldn't go that far. You got lucky this time." Ryan answered. "Now, let's go. I need food now."

Rick let go of Ryan's hand and they continued on, meeting Dave in the parking lot. He was leaning by his car but looked confused when he saw them walking together. "Took you long enough. I guess I'll see you both on Monday. And call me if anything else happens."

Ryan and Rick said goodbye to Dave. They watched him get in and drive off. Then they got into Rick's car and headed back to his place.

"I don't think it's completely unsafe. Alana and I could go home now."

Ryan and Rick were sitting at his kitchen table. When they had gotten back, Alana was asleep in the middle of the living room floor on top of her coloring books. Rick's niece was sleeping on the couch with one of her legs hanging off the edge. Neither of the girls looked comfortable but when they tried waking them up, Alana whined and went back to sleep. Jasmine slapped Rick and also went back to sleep.

So, Ryan and Rick went inside the kitchen. Rick ordered a pizza and when it arrived, they pretty much just ate in silence for a while. That is until, Ryan belched loudly and Rick started berating him for having 'no table manners'. Ryan told him to get off of his high horse, because 'everybody burped'.

Rick rolled his eyes so hard, Ryan was sure they'd get stuck if he did it again.

"Ryan, I swear if you burp one more time, I will kick you out."

"Oh, but what happened to you saying that Alana and I just had to stay here since anything could happen to us?" Ryan replied.

"I'll pay to put you both in a motel."

"A motel? That's cheap of you." Ryan answered. "We deserve at least a four-star hotel."

Rick's face turned up. "You deserve a kick in the ass. A motel is just fine for you."

Ryan stared hard at Rick. Rick saw that Ryan's lips close tight and he looked down and shook his head. "Are you trying not to laugh, Wolfe?"

"Yes, because you're not funny."

"But you're trying not to laugh- that proves that you think I am funny."

"I only found it funny because you were completely serious." Ryan said. "Usually people are funnier when they're being serious. Usually. In your case, it's pretty rare that I find you funny. It's even more rare that I actually listen to you when you speak."

Rick rolled his eyes, yet again. He stood and went into the living room, leaving Ryan alone for a few moments. Ryan sighed as he looked around the kitchen. If he was being honest, he'd admit that it was nice to have someone to just talk to and to joke around with mildly. Horatio had been gone for two whole weeks now, and Ryan was feeling a bit lonely. Not that he'd very say that out loud, though.

Rick returned to the kitchen with Alana right on his tail. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked around the kitchen. When she laid her eyes on Ryan though, she stopped and ran over to him, jumping onto his lap and planting herself firmly. "Did you have fun working, daddy?"

"Well not so much fun. But we got a lot done today, I think." Ryan told her.

"That's good. Did you guys save me some pizza?"

"Of course. But after you eat, do you think you can go back to sleep?" Ryan asked her. "It's actually getting pretty late. I know you slept a lot today, though."

Alana yawned and nodded her head. "Okay. But pizza first, right?"

As the two had their exchange, Rick was heating up a plate of cheese pizza with three slices on it. When the microwave beeped, Alana bounced with excitement. Rick chuckled to himself, not going unnoticed by Ryan, and placed the plate on the table in front of Alana.

"Thank you Mister Rick." Alana said.

"You're welcome, Alana."

"Did you pack any books for me to read to you tonight?" Ryan asked his daughter. She nodded as she took a large bite out of her food. She made a muffled response, but of course no one could understand what it was. "Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie." Ryan nudged her.

"Sorry." Alana swallowed. "I said I brought two of them."

"Great. Change into your pajamas when you're done, okay?"

"Are you still hungry, Ryan?" Rick asked.

Both Ryan and Alana looked straight ahead to Rick. He was leaning against the kitchen cupboards, with his arms crossed over his chest. He was only looking at Ryan, but of course that made sense, seeing as he was talking to him.

Alana began picking up another slice and pushed it toward Ryan's mouth. He closed his mouth and dodged his head away from it. "No, no, no. I'm full."

"But, you only had one piece." Rick said.

"No, I had two or three."

Rick shook his head. "Ryan, we've both been sitting here. I saw you eat one."

Ryan's eyes squinted slightly, glaring at the man. "I'm telling you, you're mistaken. I had more than that."

Alana slowly brought her hand down and hopped off of Ryan's lap. Sensing a fight, she walked to Rick's legs and looked up at him. "Can I eat this in the living room, Mister Rick?"

"Sure." Rick told her. Before she left the room, though, Rick handed her a two handfuls of napkins. He didn't really know her or her home training. And she was only five and he was sure she'd make a mess in his perfectly clean, perfectly white living room.

Ryan stood, shaking his head and biting his bottom lip. He was obviously upset.

"What's up with you?" Rick asked him. "Why are you so angry? I only pointed out that you only ate one piece of pizza. I didn't think that was a crime. Or something to lie about."

"Listen, Rick, I appreciate being able to stay here tonight. And I appreciate you going out of your way to accommodate Alana and I. But please don't pry into this."

"But why? Are you watching your figure or something?"

"I am, actually."

"I was kidding." Rick said. "Don't starve yourself."

Ryan groaned. "I'm not. I'm just eating less." He shrugged. "I put on a few extra pounds. I just want to lose them."

"You look fine to me."

"Really?"

Rick shrugged this time. "Yeah, you look good. Normal, I guess. Why are you so obsessed about your weight? Horatio didn't say something did he?"

Ryan's eyes widened at that comment. "Horatio would never say something like that. He likes me however I am."

Rick put his hands up, defensively. "Okay, sorry, geeze."

Ryan sighed. "It's just," he shrugged his shoulders as nonchalantly as he could, trying not to make a big deal out of it. "It was just hard for me to lose my pregnancy weight with Alana. I completely pigged out and let myself go. I wanna do it differently this time."

Rick's mouth opened, gaping at Ryan. He looked around, making sure Alana's little head wasn't poking into the room to listen. "Wait a second. Are you telling me that-?"

"Yes."

"You're sure that-?"

"Yes."

"And it's Horatio's?"

"Of course!" Ryan almost yelled.

"Oh wow. I um, I just," Rick stammered. He breathed out to collect himself as well as he could. "How far along are you?"

"I'm not sure. I took a test yesterday and it came up positive. It makes sense. Horatio and I were trying for another baby before he got lieutenant-napped."

Rick smiled at the small remark. He found it humorous at 'lieutenant-napped' being Ryan's first choice of words. He would have laughed but given the severity of the situation, he figured it would be best not to. And things were definitely getting worse.

Ryan was pregnant, and he was sure of it. Rick had no idea what to do now. He'd never been in this situation before, or even one remotely like it. What does he say? What does he do? Does he try to comfort Ryan? That'd never been his expertise, so that wouldn't have worked out too well. Does he try to talk it out with him? He'd often get annoyed too quickly so that probably didn't help either.

Ryan just watched Rick. He had his eyes closed for an awfully long time now. At least to him it seemed a bit long. Ryan saw that Rick's lips were very slightly parted and his breath was pretty harsh and deep. Then, Rick's eyes opened and they were right on Ryan. The heavy breathing stopped immediately. And his voice was low so Alana wouldn't hear if she was still awake.

"It said that Alana was next." He told Ryan, who automatically knew what Rick was talking about- the note, "And then you. Someone has it out for you and Horatio. Unfortunately, Alana's just involved for the ride."

Ryan nodded. Feeling more overwhelmed now that Alana was involved.

"Now that you're pregnant, I don't want to throw more at you that you can't handle. But I thought you should really know about this. I was thinking of just bringing the receptionist in for questioning-." Rick started.

Ryan immediately shook his head. "You can't. I don't want anyone at the lab to get hurt."

"Well, we have to do something Ryan."

"What about a background check?" Ryan suggested. "What if she's this Tiffany that tried to get Horatio's car? With everything that's happened in the past, I wouldn't doubt it for a second."

"I guess we'll find out Monday."

Ryan hummed in response and nodded again. "Bright and early."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the sake of the story, we're just gonna go ahead and make it completely normal for Ryan to have gotten pregnant so quickly. Well, as normal for a man to get pregnant, anyways.


	7. Not So Day-of-Fun

Seven:

Ryan thought that Alana deserved a day of fun. And she happily agreed.

She sped through her morning shower, breakfast, teeth brushing, and getting dressed. What usually took her about an hour and a half to complete, had taken her only thirty minutes. Ryan still was barely awake and was in desperate need of caffeine to deal with a bouncing and bubbly Alana. It was times like these where he really wished Horatio was there to help him out. He always seemed to get her to calm down, even for just a second.

"Daddy, are you ready yet?" Alana questioned.

Ryan stopped for a second, and looked down to his daughter. It was obvious to anyone that he was not ready yet. He was still in a pair of shorts and a shirt that Rick had let him borrow to sleep in the night before. And he held a coffee cup in his hand and was in mid-sip when she asked if he was ready. In short, no Ryan was by no means ready.

"Not yet, Alana." He told her. "Give me an hour please. And then I promise we can do whatever you want."

"But I wanna go _now_! Why can't we go now?"

"Alana, stop whining. I said we'll go in an hour so we'll go in an hour." Ryan answered.

"Can you hurry?"

Now Ryan was more than annoyed. He had to stop himself from slamming the mug down on the table because one, it was full of hot coffee and two, he didn't want to break Rick's things.

"Alana if you ask me one more time, we're not doing anything. Now go sit down and be quiet."

Ryan told her, his voice raised slightly.

Alana frowned and slowly nodded her head. She turned on her heels and started exiting the room. Ryan didn't like raising his voice at Alana. And frankly, he hardly ever did. It made Alana feel bad, which in return, made him feel bad, too. But sometimes, Alana just annoyed Ryan to no end.

Before Alana could fully leave the kitchen, though, Rick had stopped her.

"Why so down, Alana? Aren't you excited for later?" He asked her. Alana shook her head and looked back to Ryan again before facing Rick.

"No. Daddy's being mean." She said softly, but not soft enough where Ryan couldn't hear it.

Rick nodded as he listened to her. "Really? Does this have anything to do with the conversation you both had just now? I wasn't eavesdropping, I really wasn't." Rick reiterated, looking Ryan in the eyes. Ryan, in returned, rolled his eyes and shook his head while he took another drink from his coffee. "But Alana, you're dad is pretty stressed out right now with work and all that, and he really just wanted to take you out today to do something nice and fun for you. You constantly asking him when you're leaving isn't helping, it's just bugging him. And you don't want to bug him do you? That'll just make your and his time together not as fun."

Alana squinted her eyes at Rick, upset that she wasn't getting her way. "I guess not."

"Good. Now why don't you go see if Jasmine is awake yet?"

"Okay." Alana nodded and was on her way again, leaving Rick and Ryan alone.

Ryan was rubbing his left temple with his index and middle fingers and sighed. "I'm not thanking you."

"I didn't think you would."

"I guess I should thank you for letting Alana and I stay with you last night. And for letting me borrow some clothes to sleep in."

"Don't forget the coffee and my paying for pizza last night." Rick chimed.

Ryan made a sound from the back of his throat. "I didn't ask for either of those things."

"You still got them. Will saying a simple thank you to me really be that bad?"

"To you; Rick Stetler of IAB?" Ryan chuckled. "Of course. I gotta go get ready; Alana will only stay calm for so long. Plus I want to get going early."

"About that, I was thinking. Is it really safe for you to go out alone? Well, I know you're not alone, you'll have Alana with you. But I mean without backup? Do you think it's safe?" Rick asked Ryan, who noticed Rick's speech was fast-paced.

_Why is he getting so worked up?_

"Was there more to that note than you're telling me?" Ryan questioned. "Did it actually give a specific time and date that planned my or Alana's demise? And is that day today?"

Rick quickly shook his head. "Not at all; I would've told you about that. I'm just saying, we barely have any leads on who these people are that are out to get you and Horatio. Anything could happen at any moment and worst of all, we don't know who it could be. It could be anyone in a crowd next to you. It's dangerous."

"So, what, you want to come with us or something? To be our backup?"

"I was hoping to, yes."

Ryan's left eyebrow raised as he stared at Rick. He only shook his head and shrugged. "Alright, I guess. I don't really care if you tag along or not. Just try not to make this all about work; I really wanted a fun day with Alana."

The corner of Rick's mouth rose slightly. "Good."

"I guess I'll call Dave, too."

"Dave? Why?"

The corners of Ryan's mouth rose, too. But he was laughing. He sat the coffee mug down on the table. "For backup, of course. I know Dave isn't the best to have around. But he certainly makes things more interesting. Be ready in an hour."

Rick nodded and agreed, as Ryan left the room. Rick let out a heavy, deep breath.

~

"The girls seem to be having a lot of fun." Dave said out loud, to no one in particular.

"Well, girls do like shopping." Rick answered.

"Not all girls like shopping, Rick. That's a stereotype. And sexist." Dave replied.

Rick laughed. "Well, my niece and Alana seem to like it a lot."

Dave and Rick stopped their banter when they noticed that Ryan was no longer walking with them. Dave turned, and saw that Ryan was a ways back. Alana and Rick's niece was way in front of them. "You go catch up with the girls and make sure they're not running off." Dave instructed.

"You don't tell me what to do, Dave."

"Well will you please go catch up with the girls so they won't wander off?"

"Fine." Rick shook his head, and mumbled to himself as he walked off to go after the girls.

Really, they had promised Jasmine that they'd stay a bit behind them as to not 'cramp their style'. But now, they were way too far ahead of them. Dave had said that since everything that's happened, they shouldn't let them be unattended and Ryan agreed. Only now, Ryan had randomly stopped in front of a shop and was seemingly staring inside.

Dave had made his way next to Ryan. Ryan glanced over to Dave and offered him a smile.

"You okay, Ryan?" Dave asked him.

"I'm alright."

"What are you looking at?"

"These ties. Look at them, don't they just scream 'Horatio Caine' to you?" Ryan chuckled. "Definitely his taste, I think. I don't like them so I bet he would. We've always had different style."

Dave nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's true."

"I think I'm going to buy it for him." Ryan announced aloud. He walked passed Dave and into the small store in the mall. The store was very large, and full of suits, all of which Ryan just knew Horatio would love.

Horatio always wore a dark colored suit- always either dark navy blue or pure black. Ryan thought it fitted Horatio perfectly. He looked great in them. Then again, he looked great in everything, Ryan thought. Ryan didn't wear suits or blazers too often, but when he did they were usually light colored tan or beige's. That was just what he liked. If he wore a darker color, it was because it belonged to Horatio or Ryan just found and wore one because it reminded him of Horatio.

Ryan only turned slightly when he heard the rushed footsteps behind him.

"Dave, why are you following me?"

"I'm backup."

"But you don't even own a gun." Ryan answered, mocking Dave from a while before. "Besides, I'm just buying a few ties for Horatio. I can give them to him when he comes back."

Dave nodded, continuing to follow Ryan around. "You say it like he really is on vacation. How are you holding up?"

Ryan picked up a dark and light blue striped tie and eyed it. He ran his fingers across the silk and hummed in response. "I feel completely empty on the inside. But I'm trying not to be down. I mean, we know Horatio. He'll be okay, right? He knows we're coming for him."

"I'm sure he does. Horatio's strong." Dave answered. Ryan had put the tie down and picked up a pure red one. "Hey, what about this tie?"

Ryan looked at the tie in Dave's hand. He immediately shook his head and laughed. "That's horrible. Orange, blue and pink? It's bad, but Horatio would never wear that."

Dave, too, chuckled. "I might be bad at the whole 'formal' thing. I guess I'll leave the tie thing to you. Oh, hey girls."

Ryan looked back just in time to see Alana sneaking up on Ryan from behind. When he had spotted her, she stopped her slow, creep movements and threw her arms up in a huff. "No fair. I wanted to scare you."

"Sorry, little one. Where's Rick? You didn't walk back here alone, did you?" Ryan asked his daughter. She shook her head and turned around, probably expecting to see Rick and his niece there. But to her surprise, he wasn't there. She pouted and looked up to Ryan. "He was behind me. He told me not to run too far ahead of him but I think I did. Sorry daddy."

"It's okay. Just be careful, Alana. Never wander off."

"Are you buying ties?"

"Yeah, for Horatio. Do you think he'd like them? I have this red one and this one that Dave picked out."

Alana looked at Dave with a funny look. "It's ugly."

Dave frowned and looked at the tie again in his hands. Well, I liked it, he thought.

Ryan took the two ties to the cashier to pay for them. He knew for a fact that Horatio would enjoy the red tie very much. But he thought maybe he'd get a laugh out of the tie that Dave had picked out, as well. And if Ryan was lucky, maybe Horatio would wear it for him a few times. It would've been humorous to him.

As Ryan finished up paying, and ignoring the odd look the cashier gave him that said something like 'really, you're buying this ugly thing?' he heard the sound of Rick. And since Rick wasn't inside the store, Ryan automatically knew that Rick was upset and something was wrong.

Dave and Ryan both shared a look with each other, and in an instant, were darting for the doors of the store together. Both men had reached Rick at the same time, to see him on top of a man they'd never seen before. The man was lying flat on his stomach, struggling to get out of Rick's grasp. But Rick wasn't letting up so easy. He had the mans hands behind his back, and Rick was holding onto them tightly, not even given his finger room to wriggle around.

There was a crowd around the two. Of course there was, though, it was quite a site to see- a man tackling another man to the ground and not letting him up. And then both men were yelling loudly at each other. One saying that he needed to be let up and that he was being crushed. The other was saying that there was no way in hell he'd be getting up anytime soon.

"Rick, what the hell are you doing?" Dave asked, completely shocked.

"I found this guy out here staring at Ryan in the store."

"Oh staring! Let's just attack everybody then because we all stare sometimes." Dave answered.

Rick grunted, as he struggled to keep holding down the man that continued to struggle against Rick. "No, idiot." Rick stated. "He's been following us around all day. And now I caught him trying to leave another note."

Ryan quickly ran to Alana, who was standing nearby with wide eyes, watching everything go down. He grabbed her hand and guided Alana back into the store, and towards the back so she wouldn't be able to see what was going on.

"Daddy what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Alana, did you notice that man outside following us?" Ryan questioned her. By now, most people had heard the fiasco and were outside of the store watching the scene unfold. Of course Ryan had no idea what was happening since he wanted to shield Alana from it. A few others were still inside the store; older people, and some parents with children. They had the same idea as Ryan.

Alana initially shook her head. But then she suddenly nodded. "I saw him behind us a few times in the other stores." She answered. "But isn't he just shopping? What's 'following'?"

"So, he's been in every store we have?"

She nodded again.

Of course, it made sense that Alana had no idea what was going on. She probably genuinely thought that the man just had happened to be in the same stores as them. She was only four and it was natural that she didn't think anything bad or dangerous of it.

Alana had slowly made her way closer to Ryan, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

"It's okay; you didn't know."

"Is he going to be in big trouble?"

"I don't know yet." Ryan told her.

Alana had glanced behind her dad and saw Dave coming back into the store and toward the two. He put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Hey Ryan, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah." Ryan answered, starting to walk away but pointed back to Alana. "Stay here, okay?"

She agreed as Ryan and Dave walked a few feet away from Alana. Ryan kept his eyes on her though, as he didn't want her to try looking out of the large glass window of the shop to see what was going on outside of it. "A security guard called the police, much to Rick's dismay." Dave told him, keeping his voice quiet. "Since the cops are called, no doubt there will be an investigation now."

"But Horatio-."

"And Rick said that he was leaving behind another note. I guess the guy was going to tape it to the window, you know, in public. But Rick saw him and when he confronted him, the guy tried to run off but Rick tackled him. I know you're worried about Horatio, but don't worry, everything will be okay, Ryan." Dave told him.

Now, Ryan was even more worried than he was ever before. Now since the police were involved, there was no doubt something bad was going to happen. The notes specifically said that if they had any investigations, Horatio would have been killed.

Ryan blinked his eyes fast a few times, and looked at Alana again. Jasmine had came into the store as they were talking. Ryan doubted she would tell a 4 year old what was happening.

"Where's Rick?" Ryan asked Dave.

"He had to go with them to give a statement; you know the drill. But," he reached into his pocket and handed Ryan a small key. "He told me to give you this key to his house. I'm supposed to take you all back to his place until he gets back. You have your gun, right? Just in case."

"Well, yeah, but I didn't bring it into the mall with me."

"Good. I'm going to take you guys back to Rick's now, but I'll stay with you if you want until he comes back."

Ryan quickly nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

Dave smiled. "It's no problem. I know I complain a lot but I'm not completely useless."

"I know, Dave." Ryan gestured for Alana and Rick's niece to come. They both followed and the four of them made their ways out of the stores. In the middle of the mall, there were still some people standing around chatting loudly about what had happened. There was two officers talking to some witnesses to the events. But Ryan just took Alana's hand and guided her through and past the people to get outside to the car.

_So much for a day of fun_ , Ryan thought.

Dave and Ryan sat in the living room with the girls. The girls were sitting on the floor. Jasmine was multitasking between texting on her cellphone, occasionally picking up a crayon to color a page that Alana had given her, and stopping to compliment Alana's coloring whenever she asked her if it was good or not.

Alana was coloring a picture of an outdoors scenery. Her sky was purple, the clouds were pink, the sun was green and the grass was red. It couldn't have gotten more creative than that. "Daddy look!" She held up the picture for Ryan.

"It's beautiful."

"It's for you."

"Really? Thanks, I'll put it on our fridge back home." Ryan told her. Alana beamed with happiness and tore out a new page for herself to color. She had already torn out another page for Rick's niece, but she saw that she hadn't even finished the first picture yet. Alana frowned and nudged the crayon pack closer to her. Jasmine smiled sheepishly as she took a few crayons and sat her phone down on the soft white carpet.

Ryan and Dave were relatively quiet. There really wasn't anything that needed to be said or done. So, they just watched a movie that was on the TV together. They both occasionally laughed when a funny scene came on. They exchanged conversation with the girls. But other than that, it was quiet between them. And Ryan had to admit, though it was quiet, it was comforting.

When the door unlocked two hours later, Ryan looked back to the floor where the girls were. Rick's niece was fast asleep with her cellphone lying on her cheek. Alana was sleeping next to her, crayon still in her hand.

Dave chuckled quietly as he stood along with Ryan. Both of them crept past the girls and to the front door to warn Rick to be quiet.

Rick was just standing there, staring at the now closed door.

"Rick?" Ryan called out to him. Rick turned to face him. "You okay? What happened?"

Rick looked at both of them and sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, tired, I guess."

"Your niece and Alana are sleeping on the floor." Dave told him.

"I bet. I'll wake them up in a few minutes to go into the bedroom." Rick answered.

The three of them fell silent. Rick stood by the door, twiddling his fingers. Ryan was bursting with wonder and curiosity. While Dave just stood in the middle of them awkwardly. It was so quiet, they could hear the soft snoring from the other room. Dave broke the silence, clearing his throat. "Right, well, I guess I'll see you both at the lab. Call me if anything happens or you need anything, Ryan."

"Well, what if I need something?" Rick asked.

"You're a big boy, Rick. You can handle yourself."

Ryan's face twisted up. "What? I can't handle myself, too?"

Dave laughed again and said goodbye to the two. Rick moved out of his way to clear the way for Dave. He opened the door and left them alone. Rick motioned for Ryan to follow him to the kitchen.

"Okay, you already know I'm anxious. The anticipation is killing me." Ryan told him.

Rick went to the coffee machine and began pouring the grounds into it. He made two cups, one for him and one for Ryan. "I noticed that guy around the same time Jasmine and Alana took off by themselves." He answered. "I thought he was following me for a moment; I thought I recognized him. But when I walked away, he stayed behind so I watched him for a second. He just stood outside that store watching you inside."

"I didn't even see him. I'm a CSI; I'm trained to notice detail. But I didn't notice him."

"You have a lot going on."

"That's no excuse. What if something bad happened?"

"Nothing did."

"Well something happened." Ryan answered. "So, what happened? Did they arrest him?"

The coffee machine made a beeping noise to signify it being done. Rick poured two cups and sat them down at the table. Both of them sat down together. "They questioned him. They took my statement. As far as I know, he isn't talking. They can't just lock him up because, well, they don't know what happened."

Ryan stared at the cup. Then to Rick. "Do you have any marshmallows? Or oranges?"

"With coffee?" Rick grimaced, then relaxed his face. "Oh right. You're with child." He stood and opened his refrigerator and tossed Ryan an orange. He sat back down, so Ryan figured he didn't have any marshmallows.

"How do they not know what happened? You gave a statement, didn't you?"

"I did."

"So, what, did you not tell them what happened?"

Rick took a drink from his coffee. He grew quiet. He didn't even look Ryan in the eyes anymore.

"Rick?" Ryan said his name softly. "Did you lie, or something?"

"Kind of."

"You can tell me."

"I," he paused and sighed. "I'm withholding evidence." Rick announced. Ryan watched as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Ryan realized that it had to have been the note that the guy was leaving behind. Ryan held out his hand expectantly, waiting for Rick to hand the note over.

Surprisingly, he gave it right to Ryan. Usually, there was some hesitation as Rick didn't want to Ryan to know practically anything about the case. Ryan cautiously took the note. He breathed in and out softly to prepare himself. He unwrapped the paper and read it.

"'Say goodbye'?" He read, in a questioning tone. "There's a phone number."

"I think you're supposed to call it. To, well, say goodbye."

Ryan's eyes widened at what Rick said.

"To Horatio?"

Rick shrugged. "I think you should wait until we go to the lab. That way we can trace the call."

"But what if it's too late?"

Rick didn't say anything after that. Ryan understood. But he had a million thoughts racing through his mind at the moment. He suddenly wasn't very hungry, or thirsty for that matter. He pushed the coffee mug away from himself.

"I told them that he was following me instead of you. If I said you, they'd bring you in for questioning. And I told them that he'd been following me for a while now. But that's not enough to hold him." Rick said quietly. "I couldn't say anything else. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want there to be an investigation. But it was my fault anyways."

Ryan shook his head. "Your fault?"

"I attacked that guy in a crowded mall. I drew attention to us, and now to the investigation."

"But you did what you thought was right."

"And probably at the expense of Horatio."

Rick had stood up so quickly that it had startled Ryan. In return, Ryan stood too.

"I don't like Horatio. Everyone knows that. But the last thing I want is his death." Rick told Ryan. He in return, tried smiling, though he knew it probably looked small and a little forced. "No, Horatio won't die. I just know it. We don't know what's going to happen. Horatio could be hurt. But he won't die. So, don't say things like that, okay? It'll be okay."

Rick stared hard at Ryan, as if what he was saying was completely foolish. But Ryan certainly didn't feel foolishly for saying what he did. He believed it. He knew Horatio would be okay. He knew that Horatio was strong and would never let something take him away from his family.

Rick just stared at Ryan, until finally, he just turned and left the kitchen. Ryan stood there a while longer, until he heard a door slam shut. It was probably Rick's bedroom door shutting. Ryan took it upon himself to empty the coffee cups, put the orange back into the refrigerator and to wake the girls and have them go to the other bedroom to sleep in. Rick's niece went willingly, but Alana clung onto Ryan. Though she was half-asleep, her grip was tight. She didn't even let go when Ryan put her in the bed with him. She held onto him tightly the whole night through.


	8. Back at the Lab

Chapter eight

Monday morning seemed to drag on. Ryan was working on a case that Calleigh had brought to his attention. She said it was called in by a concerned neighbor, and discovered to have been a murder-suicide for a college couple, she being murdered and he committed suicide. But Calleigh and Natalia had different opinions. They thought the deaths were staged and that there was a third-party involved. So they asked Ryan to look over the evidence to verify it.

It wasn't as if Ryan didn't want to go over the evidence for them. After all, it was his job and it just simply needed to be done.

Eric had approached him first, with a serious look on his face. "Alright, did you find anything? Calleigh's on my back about watching you."

Ryan stopped writing things down and looked over to Eric. "Watch me? Why?"

"She says you've been acting strange lately. And she's right- you have been. So what's wrong? Are you stressed? Do you miss Horatio? Or something else?" Eric asked him.

Ryan shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Anyways, I did find something." Ryan started shifting through the photos on the lab table. He pulled the 3 and moved them toward Eric. Eric took the photos and looked through them. "You see the blood on the wall next to him? It's his blood, but the pictures just don't really make sense. If he shot himself, the blood splatter would have been higher up on the wall. It'd shouldn't have accumulated in a puddle under or right next to him. It should have gotten on the wall."

Eric crossed his arms and nodded. "Yeah, that's what Calleigh was saying, too."

"If you look closely at the wall too, at the bottom the blood seems to be smeared just a little bit."

"Alright. Thanks, Wolfe."

"How have I been acting strange?" Ryan asked.

Eric laughed and shrugged. "I don't know man. You've just been different. And it didn't just start when Horatio left, you've been acting weird since before then." He answered. "Natalia told me you seemed off at her party. And she's right- you were. You were just standing there against the wall awkwardly, not even trying to talk to any of us. Did we do something wrong? Around Horatio, you were all happy and full of smiles and laughs. And I get that; that's your boyfriend. But around us you close yourself off or something. But we're your friends, Ryan."

Ryan looked at the open door for a brief moment. There was the receptionist again, walking past the room. She looked in and locked eyes with Ryan. She gave him a sweet smile and continued on. "Yeah, I know I've been a little strange lately. I'm sorry about that."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Um, I don't know. I guess I've just been in my head a lot lately." Ryan told him. "You know how I get- I keep things bottled up until, well, I freak out."

"So what has you freaking out, Wolfe? Talk to me. I'm your friend. And you're worrying the others."

"I know Horatio was married to your sister. And I know how happy she made him. Honestly, I've never seen him so happy before."

Eric frowned. "I see him happy like that all the time when he's with you and Alana."

Ryan shook his head. "That's the problem. Only when it's with me and Alana. When Horatio and I are alone, he's so quiet. It's like he's not even there, really. And the anniversary of Marisol's death was coming up and it just got worse. I was used to that, and it usually passed and Horatio's mood would go back to normal. But this time, he didn't. He stayed the same. And he's been acting strange to me ever since. He's really only happy when he's around Alana, or Kyle, or you- basically anyone that's not me."

"What are you talking about? Horatio has the biggest smile whenever he's with you. You're crazy."

"No, I know Horatio. I'm not saying you don't, but I've been with him for almost 5 years now. And I can tell when he's unhappy."

"Horatio's been unhappy?"

"He pretends to be the same as always; happy and content." Ryan answered. "But it's fake. I know he's unhappy, he just won't tell me. We haven't even said that we loved each other in almost 3 months. Honestly, I'm afraid it's the end for us."

Eric was relatively quiet. Ryan almost thought that someone else had came into the room with how eerily silent Eric had become. "So that's why you've been acting weird. What about Natalia's party? You two seemed all over each other."

Ryan nodded in agreement. Horatio and Ryan were all over each other. But that was a rare occurrence. He himself was surprised that Horatio was acting that way. "I know. That actually hasn't happened in a long time. It was probably because I had given him some," Ryan paused, "good news the night before."

Eric grinned and nodded along. "Good news, huh?"

Ryan chuckled. "Yeah. It actually was something that leads up to good news. But I can't tell you just yet- not until Horatio get's back from vacation. That is if you haven't cracked my incredibly easy code."

Eric gaped at Ryan and shot a look toward the door. "So you're pregnant?"

"You can't tell anyone yet."

"A kid can't save a relationship, Ryan." Eric warned. To which, Ryan quickly nodded. "I know, I know. That's not my goal. Horatio wants kids. And he's been hounding me for a year now about having another kid. They make him happy. "

"Wait a minute, why did Horatio go on vacation anyways? It wasn't to get away from you right? No, that can't be it; he'd never just leave his family behind." Eric thought, aloud.

Ryan shook his head. "No, it's not that at all. I have to finish this stuff up and get the results back to Calleigh before she rips my head off. Or shoots me."

"We can go to the bar tonight. I think Calleigh and Valera are doing something tonight." Eric told him.

Ryan shook his head. "No bar. Remember?"

Eric laughed and nodded. "Right. We'll figure something out. I'll text you later, Wolfe." He collected the pictures off of the lab table and left the room. Ryan looked up, and saw the receptionist walking past again. She didn't even bother looking into the room again. She just went right on past. Ryan couldn't help but to wonder if she'd been standing close to the door this whole time.

At the moment, Ryan just wanted to chase after her and pull her away to question her. But he knew he couldn't just do that. At that moment, he was wondering if the man from the auto shop had came by to give them the video tape yet. So, he wrapped up what he was doing for Calleigh and Natalia, and exited the small lab room.

He got into the elevator and went up to the IAB floor. To his surprise, Rick wasn't in his office. He even checked the bathroom but couldn't find him. Ryan got back into the elevator and came back down. When the doors opened, Ryan saw the receptionist with her nose in a book, sitting on the desk. He had started past her, when he heard her usually soft voice bellow out "if you're looking for Rick, he's with Dave".

_Information that could have been useful a few minutes ago._

Ryan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and to yell at her, or question her. Even though he just wanted to so bad, but he had more important things to do.

He continued walking, careful to avoid conversation with anyone and to draw attention to himself. When he found the audio/tech lab, he realized the door was closed, which was something that never happened. It was something that wasn't allowed either.

Ryan turned the door handle and pushed it open. Just in time to see Dave quickly going in one direction, and Rick going in the other. Rick picked up something from a desk and began inspecting it as if his life depended on it.

"Okay," Ryan said. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that just now."

Dave shook his head. "We were just-."

"I don't care. Not even a little bit. But keep the door open."

"Ryan, we really weren't-." Rick started. Ryan put his hand up. "Still don't care."

Dave cleared his throat. "I, uh, ran a background check on our receptionist. Nothing comes up. Well, she did get a ticket once for jaywalking. But other than that, her record's clean."

"That sucks. So, did we get the surveillance video from the Auto Shop?"

Dave nodded. "We did."

"Why didn't either of you tell me? Oh, right." Ryan said. "You were busy. Well, let's see it."

Dave and Rick didn't even bother trying to come up with excuses anymore. Dave silently grabbed the DVD and put it into it's player. Then, he turned on all of the large TV's that were in the room, all for seeing different angles of videos and pictures.

Ryan planted himself in a chair in between Rick and Dave.

Dave had a remote control in his hands. He began fiddling around with it, while staring intently at the screen. Ryan had glanced to his left toward Rick, who seemed to already be looking at him. But Rick had turned his attention back to the TV screens. _Probably embarrassed_ , Ryan thought. He chuckled softly to himself. Dave finally stopped whatever he was doing and looked at the screen.

"There's a guy and a girl. They're the only ones that fit the description that the Auto Shop manager gave us." Dave told them. Ryan snapped back to the screens. So far they could only see the back of their heads.

Rick frowned. "Can we get another angle?"

"Hold on." Dave said. He pushed a button a few times but nothing happened. "I guess not. I did only see one camera in the entire building, though. It's probably the only shot we have."

"Figures; we were in an interesting part of town."

Ryan sighed. "Can we just watch it, please?"

Dave became silent again, but Rick huffed out in displeasure, as if he were a child. Ryan was annoyed but he tried not to care, he had more important things to think of. Namely, this video, and the note from the mall.

Ryan paid very close attention to the video. It was a little grainy and black and white. Whoever was in the video obviously knew that there was a camera, because they never once turned to face it, except for when they were leaving. Even then, the girl wore a large hat and moved it down slightly to cover the top half of her face. The guy she was with put his hand in the area between his eyebrows and over his nose. It seemed like he was scratching, or something, but it was pretty obvious that he was hiding his face.

"Damn it." Dave murmured.

"Rewind the video." Rick instructed. Dave did as he was told and paused it when Rick had told him to. "She has dark long hair. It might be black but since it's black and white, it's hard to tell. She could have brown hair. Darker skin. Tall."

"Kind of like the receptionist." Ryan pointed out. "But her body type is different. Our receptionist is very skinny. Not saying this woman isn't but she's more..."

"Filled out." Dave offered.

"... filled out, than her." Ryan finished.

Rick nodded. "Right. And this guy looks kind of familiar. Short hair. Light-ish. I guess and average build. Not much to go on with him."

Dave shook his head. "You're right. Well, this was a bust. They don't even have surveillance cameras outside so we can't see their car or anything. Nice job choosing the worst Auto Shop, Rick."

"Hey, I chose one where I didn't think people would frequent."

"Oh and look how well that turned out."

Ryan stood suddenly and reached into his pocket. The two men stopped bickering and looked up to him. Ryan read the paper over and over again. "I still have to call this number. They want me to 'say goodbye', remember?"

Dave didn't remember. He had no idea what was going on. He wasn't there with Rick and Ryan when they had discussed the new note. Dave didn't know that Rick hid it from the officers.

"There's a new note?" He asked. Ryan nodded and handed it to him, hoping he wouldn't ask about where they found it. But he didn't thankfully, he just read it. "So they left a number? We can look it up and see who it's registered to and trace it."

"That's the plan."

Dave rolled across the room in the wheelie chair he sat in to a large computer system. He started typing in the number and waited patiently for the results to load. Ryan watched as his face twisted up. "It says the number's only been active for 4 days now. There's a name though- Red Cline. Same name from the Auto Shop. But it's a Miami number and it says they're right here in Florida. I guess we already knew that, though. I'm looking up the name now, but there are 0 exact matches."

Ryan sighed. "I guess I just have to call it."

"Wait," Dan said. "What if you call it, and it turns out it's linked with a bomb? What if you call and the lab blows up? Or what if Horatio blows up, wherever he is?"

"That's true, Ryan."

"But we don't really have other options." Ryan stated. And he was right, he thought. He couldn't think of any other solutions. The only thing he could do was call and hope that Dave could trace the call.

The three heard the sounds of chattering and heels clicking. They heard the familiar sound of Walter's voice and Natalia laughing. They had stopped by and peeked into the room, both looking confused to see Dave, Ryan and Rick in there together. Walter didn't say anything, though, thinking that since it involved Rick there must be something going on. And Natalia didn't say anything, because she knew that Ryan was working on something secret, and frankly, she thought he was getting into trouble again. Although she had no idea what Dave had to do with it. They continued on, though.

"Not here. Let's do this later after everyone leaves." Rick whispered, in case Walter and Natalia were still there. Though, unlikely because they could still hear her heels clicking away.

Just then, they heard more walking. All three of them continued looking at the door waiting to see who it was. To their almost surprise, it was the receptionist. Who, looked pretty shocked to see them all already staring at her. She froze for a split second, but kept her eyes locked onto Ryan's. She kept on facing him, but her eyes darted to the left of her. When Ryan remained motionless, she widened her eyes and darted them again to the left. Then she turned to the right, and went back from the direction she came from.

Dave, Rick and Ryan just stood there.

Finally, Ryan turned back to them. "You both saw that, right?"

"Oh yeah."

"Definitely."

The three of them rushed out of the room and looked to the left, the direction the receptionist was hinting at. But they didn't see anything. Ryan expected another note or something. So he even walked further down the hall. But there was nothing. "She was definitely trying to tell me something, right?"

Dave shrugged. "I don't know, that's what I got out of it."

"Me too."

Ryan nodded. "Weird. Alright. So, should we meet back here after everyone else leaves?"

The other two agreed and Ryan and Rick walked off toward the right while Dave went back into the lab. Rick and Ryan were pretty quiet. Ryan was wondering why Rick was so quiet. They were almost to the elevator when Rick finally spoke up. "Earlier when you came in, it really wasn't like that."

"Huh?"

"With Dave, I mean. We really weren't doing anything."

"I don't care if you were." Ryan told him. "Dave's single. I'm sure you are, too."

"I don't like Dave."

"Really? I thought you did. In any case, Dave likes you. It's kind of obvious."

Rick had stopped walking. "Wait, what?"

Ryan stopped too. "Well he does."

He began to shake his head, almost furiously. "No, I knew that; I meant you can tell when other people like someone, but you can't tell when..." Rick had stopped talking suddenly.

Ryan had no idea what he was talking about. "When what?"

"You're an idiot." Rick answered. "Come with me." He said. Ryan wasn't sure why he started following Rick around the lab like a lost puppy. He then became aware of how quiet it had gotten. He didn't see Calleigh, Natalia, Walter or Eric anywhere. They had to have been out on the field. It made sense that he wasn't invited though, because lately he'd been working inside going over evidence. And he was sure Valera was on a break. There were a few others and officers walking about but none really paid attention to Ryan or Rick.

Ryan suddenly also became aware that they were going inside a bathroom. "Why the hell are we in here?" He asked him.

Eric was whistling as he walked down the hall. He was dying to show Ryan the postcard that Horatio had sent him from Hawaii. It had a picture of a beach on the front and on the back, said the simple words 'See you soon. You and Calleigh should come out with Ryan and I when I get back. H.' Eric was happy that Horatio was finally coming back. He wanted to know who else got a postcard, or if he was just special. Also, after what Ryan had told him about what was going on with Horatio, he really wanted to show Ryan that Horatio was still thinking of him. He smiled.

As Eric turned the corner, he stopped whistling when he heard hushed voices. It was strange, because as far as Eric had known, everyone was out on the field. He had known Ryan was here though, because he saw him come this way. He figured he was going to the bathroom. But since he was following Ryan into the bathroom just to show him a postcard, he figured it was already a semi-invasion of privacy for Ryan. So then, Eric could finally share with Ryan something private that was happening in Eric's life.

But who was Ryan talking to?

Suddenly, the voices stopped. Was Ryan speaking to someone on speakerphone? No, the voice was too clear to be on the phone. Eric didn't want to go in there if someone was in there with Ryan. He didn't want that person to think he was a complete weirdo for following Ryan into the bathroom.

The voices resumed again, very quick and very brief. He heard Ryan go 'hey!'. But he didn't hear what the other person was saying. It stopped quickly again. Eric entered the bathroom and looked around. Everything was completely quiet again. But he knew that obviously someone was in there. And when he turned to the stall, there it was.

Ryan opened the door and came out, with Rick following suit.

Ryan's eyes grew larger than dinner plates and Rick just stopped in his tracks with they saw Eric.

"Eric..." Ryan had started. But it was too late.

Eric had stalked over to Rick so fast and had him pressed against the cold, stone wall. Rick had hit the wall so fast, that he let out an audible gasp for air as he probably had the wind knocked out of him. "What the hell are you doing in the same stall as Ryan?" Eric was yelling at him. "Did you follow him in there?"

Ryan had grabbed Eric's arm to try to pull him off of Rick. "Eric, calm down."

But Eric wasn't listening. He pulled Rick from the wall, and then slammed him again, even harder. "Answer me!" Rick had looked so surprised and shocked, probably at the confrontation and at Eric's strength. Eric already looked strong, but he was far stronger than he looked.

"Eric, it's okay." Ryan said.

Eric turned to Ryan, still holding Rick in place. "It's okay?"

"I mean nothing happened." Ryan tried explaining.

Eric let go of Rick and turned his attention to Ryan. He pointed his finger in his face. "What the hell do you mean nothing happened? Why was he in the bathroom with you?"

"I don't-."

"Ryan, why was he in the bathroom stall with you?" Eric asked again, more slow.

"We were talking."

"In a stall? And I actually felt bad for you after you told me that sob-story about Horatio." Eric shook his head in disbelief. His voice was strong and his eyes had so much anger in them. "You're disgusting." Eric spat at him. Ryan wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what Eric was thinking. Eric had pushed Ryan out of the way, not hard enough to do damage or to knock him over. Ryan tried calling after him, and even followed him a little. But Eric very clearly warned him to not get close to him, and to leave him alone. And judging by how angry Eric looked, Ryan complied. He had a feeling something terrible would have happened if he didn't listen to what Eric told him. And of course he was upset, he had caught Ryan in a bad predicament.


	9. Horatio

Nine:

"Why the hell are we in here?" Ryan asked Rick.

In the small stall, Rick just shook his head. He opened his mouth, but didn't speak. He closed it and shook his head again. Ryan almost started questioning Rick's sanity, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

"You know that Dave likes me?" Rick finally asked him.

Ryan shrugged. "Yeah, I know that."

"How do you know that?"

"I can just tell." Ryan answered. "Why are we in here; we have to go call that number before the officers shut down the place for the night."

Rick shook his head yet again. "But how can you tell?"

"I don't know, I just do. I could tell when Walter liked Valera, too. Unfortunately, though they didn't really work out." Ryan told him.

"You're an idiot." Rick said to Ryan. Ryan in return, frowned, and seemed taken back. "Hey!" He said, offended.

Rick had brought his hands up, and placed them on the sides of Ryan's face. But his adult hands, were large, so the pinkies of his hands lightly grazed Ryan's neck. Rick leaned in to kiss Ryan.

But, Ryan didn't let that happen.

He moved out of Rick's light grip and opened the bathroom stall door. He came out, with Rick behind him, and that was when he saw Eric.

Ryan shook his head furiously. "You're an asshole."

He continued on down the hall, with Rick close on his tail. Rick sighed, obviously annoyed by this whole situation. "I think you're being too dramatic."

Ryan suddenly stopped walking, causing Rick to bump into him. Ryan turned fast and pointed his finger at him. "Dramatic? Eric just saw us together in a bathroom stall. Do you know what he thinks of me now?"

"Well-"

"He said I was disgusting." Ryan almost raised his voice. "Eric thinks I'm disgusting because he thinks I was cheating on Horatio. With you, out of all people. That _is_ disgusting."

Rick made a sound from the back of his throat and shook his head, as if he were annoyed. This time, he followed behind Ryan. Ryan was turning a corner, so Rick had to jog to keep up with him. And when he caught up with Ryan, he grabbed his arm to stop him. "Wolfe, calm down. You cannot go in there with Dave and be this," he paused, trying to think of the appropriate words to say. "This anxious. Or angry. If Dave see's something is wrong, it's going to upset him, too. You have to go in there focused on trying to find Horatio."

"Is that why you just tried to feel me up in a bathroom; because I need to focus on Horatio?" Ryan asked him, incredulous. He didn't even wait for Rick to say anything else. "After this, I'm taking Alana and we're going back home. We don't need your protection anymore, Rick."

Rick didn't say anything else. This time, he walked past Ryan and into the audio/visual lab where Dave patiently waited for the two.

When he saw the both of him, he gave a small smile and gestured to his desk. On top of it now were three telephones, and two very large computers. On the computer screens, the first one was black with green text, and the other was completely blue with nothing else on it. "Okay, I have just about everything set up. Here, Rick, put these on," Dave said, plugging in a large headset into one of the phones. Then he handed that one to Rick. After, he plugged in another headset into another one of the phones and put them on, himself. "And Ryan, you just pick up the phone and call. We should be able to hear everything through these headsets. The callers information should pop up on the first screen. Then, on the second screen, a map should come up with their exact location."

"Okay simple enough. What if they don't answer?" Ryan asked.

"Um," Dave hesitated. "Well, then there's nothing we can do. I do have to warn you though- these machines have been messing up lately, so we might not get as accurate information.. So, are we ready? Do you need to mentally prepare yourself?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

Dave turned to Rick. "And we'll have to be absolutely silent. If they know we're tracing the call- well, I don't even wanna know what would happen."

"They're probably already expecting us to do this, though, right. I don't mean to be a downer, I'm just speaking practically and honestly. They'll probably try to rush Ryan off the phone." Rick told them.

Dave seemed to be thinking. Then he shrugged. "Then Ryan will have to keep them talking. He's good at pissing people off and riling them up- he can just do that. Ok, the number's right there. Just pick up the phone whenever you're ready and we can do this thing."

Ryan nodded, and picked up the phone. He seemed to be just staring at the note for a while, Dave inquired. But he didn't say anything about it. Ryan looked up to Rick, but quickly shifted his gaze to Dave. Who in return, nodded in encouragement to him. Ryan started typing in numbers, and soon the phone rang.

Dave immediately pushed a button, and the first black screen flashed green text that read 'processing… processing… retrieving...'

Ryan seemed to be holding in his breath to Rick. And he was right. He observed Ryan more closely. He was tapping his fingers against the desk. He seemed jittery and nervous. But of course he was. The phone rang three times, and just when Ryan was about ready to give up, finally answered.

"Ryan?"

His eyes widened and he pressed the phone closer to his ear, as if that was even possible. His fingers left the table and both were clutching onto the phone for dear life.

"Horatio?"

Dave and Rick exchanged glances, obviously neither of them expecting the lieutenant to answer the phone himself. Listening through the headset, both men heard Horatio breath out deeply. "I've been waiting 2 days for you to call."

"I didn't get the note until now." Ryan lied.

"Are you okay?"

Ryan was flabbergasted. "Am I okay? Are you okay!? You're the one that went missing."

Horatio seemed to hesitate. Dave and Ryan both looked at the screen to make sure he was still actually on the phone. He was still connected, and the green text still read 'retrieving… retrieving… retrieving...'. The blue screen now contained a map of Miami. The indicator marker was moving about the screen furiously trying to pinpoint the exact location.

"I'm more worried about you and Alana," Horatio finally answered. "Are you both okay?"

Ryan nodded, though Horatio couldn't see him. "We're okay. We miss you so much, Horatio."

"I miss you both, too, Ryan. So much. You have no idea."

"Do you know where you are?"

More hesitation. This time, Rick broke his silence. Although, not too loudly, he whispered, "you hear that? Someone's talking to him in the background."

Dave nodded but put his finger up to his lips to shush Rick. He pushed a dial, turning the volume up slightly. Then he hit a button that flashed red, signalling the call being recorded.

"I don't know where I am. We keep changing locations."

"Why did whoever do this take you?" Ryan questioned. "I was told not to investigate it or else Alana and I would be hurt, too."

"Ryan, don't worry about anything. Right now, I'm okay."

"'Right now'?" His eyes darted to the map again. The indicator marker was slowing down. Rick took off his headset and went to grab something. Dave and Ryan both watched him, wondering what he was doing. Ryan heard faintly someone saying "wrap this up, Horatio". Ryan looked to Dave to make sure he heard that, too. Dave locked eyes with him, seemingly indicating that yes, he did hear it too.

Rick returned and he didn't even bother looking at Ryan or Dave. He looked at the map. Ryan watched him as he began writing every street name that popped up onto the screen. It was the same 5 streets, but the marker couldn't find the exact location. It was good thinking on Rick's part, Ryan thought.

"I have to hang up, Ryan."

"Wait, please. The note said I had to call this number to 'say goodbye'. What does that mean? Does this mean you're going to be killed? Am I going to be killed?"

"Ryan, I honestly don't know. But I really have to go."

"Keep him talking, Ryan." Dave whispered, pointing to the map again. The marker had slowed down and was now only jumping between 3 different streets. "I want to talk to whoever's there with you." Ryan told him.

"Ryan…"

"No, I know that he can hear me. I can hear him talking to you." Ryan answered. "Why did you take Horatio away? You know he has a family right? Why would you take him away from that- why take a little girl's father away from her?"

"Excuse me?"

Ryan and Dave both heard. The voice was more clear, as if they were closer to Horatio.

"I really want to know- why? Did Horatio piss you off? Did I piss you off? Did somehow my little girl piss you off?" Ryan asked, taunting. _Well Dave was right, I do have a knack for riling people up,_ Ryan thought.

There was the sound of Horatio saying something, but being cut off. Ryan stalled his breath when he heard a loud thumping sound, and the phone clanking, as if it hit the ground. Then it sounded like the phone was being picked up.

"What did you say to me?"

Ryan and Dave heard. Dave stared hard at Ryan, obviously worried. He shook his head frantically, hoping Ryan would get the hint and keep his mouth shut.

He looked back to Rick and the map that now only showed 1 street, and was moving around trying to find the address.

"What's wrong? Are you shy now?" The guy asked him.

"No." Ryan answered. "I stand by what I said. I still want to know why Horatio?"

Laughing. He heard laughing. "He deserves it. But so do you and your daughter. And so does Eric, Calleigh, and Dave."

Dave's mouth dropped open. "What the hell did I do?" He asked, louder than he meant to. He quickly covered his mouth but the damage had been done.

"Are you tracing this call?" The guy asked.

"No, of course not." Ryan answered. "You said no investigations, and call me crazy but I think that counts as an investigation."

The guy on the other line was clicking his tongue. "Big mistake, Ryan. And tell Eric that his time is coming, too. But not yours- not yet. I'm saving you for last."

They heard a click and then silence from the other end. He had hung up. Ryan angrily slammed down the phone. Dave slowly put his headphones down on the table. "Ryan, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, nice going Dave." Rick snapped at him.

Ryan's head whirled to face Rick's. "You shut up. Don't blame Dave; you don't know what was said." Ryan said. "It's okay, Dave, you panicked. What's important now is that Rick got the address of the call. Right Rick?"

Rick looked at his paper. "Yeah, I got it. Kind of." He answered. "The stupid machine couldn't decide which place it was, so it's between 3 of them. And his information didn't come up. It just says 'unknown caller… texting application'."

"I had to use the old equipment since all the new stuff is in use. But since he knows we were tracing the call, they're probably on the move right now." Dave said.

"Then that means we better get going, right?" Ryan responded. "I have to say though, that guy that talked to me sounded kind of familiar."

"Really?" Rick asked him.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, but then again, I work here and I hear a lot of shit. So the voices could all be running together. But I will say that I'm about 80% sure that I know that voice. I just really can't think of who it is right now. Anyways, let's get going."

Rick shook his head and made a movement as if he were going to touch Ryan's shoulder. But Ryan moved over so he couldn't, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Dave. But Dave didn't comment on it.

"Ryan, I don't think you should go." Rick told him.

"Not that I usually care about what you think," Ryan answered, "but why not?"

"Because you're, well, expecting. That's dangerous."

As Ryan rolled his eyes, Dave was floored. "Huh? How could you not tell me?" Dave questioned.

"Can we please talk about this on the way there? Like you said, they're more than likely going to leave since they know we were tracing the call. So we have to get there right now."

Dave nodded, Rick was still skeptical about it. But he kept his mouth shut and followed the other men out of the door. They passed by the night crew and officers, all of them saying hello to each other, except for Rick. No one ever spoke to Rick, and he didn't make an attempt to talk to others unless he was criticizing them. The receptionist was nowhere to be seen.


	10. The House

Ten:

They all climbed in Rick's car and drove to the block of addresses that Rick had wrote down. They sped the whole way, surprised that they didn't get pulled over by a police officer. Of course, they themselves could have just taken an official vehicle, but there was no way for that to go unnoticed. And they definitely didn't want to be seen. It was pure luck that they hadn't gotten pulled over; that would have wasted precious time.

Rick stopped at the beginning of the street and opened his door. "Dave you stay in here. Ryan and I will go to these 3 buildings and check them out."

"Why do I stay?" Dave asked.

"You don't have a gun." Ryan answered flatly.

Dave shook his head. "Exactly! What if this is a trap? A bunch of guys can just kidnap me, too once you guys leave. Or what if I get mugged- this is an unsavory looking neighborhood."

He was right. All around them were empty houses. Most were dirty looking, moss and mold covered and there were busted windows in most of them. It looked abandoned, but a squatter's dream. It looked perfect for people who had something to hide, even if it was themselves.

Rick exhaled deeply. "No one wants to kidnap you. Geeze, Dave, how did you ever get a job at the lab?"

"Hey. I'm brains, not brawn."

"Dave acts like he's this weak, useless guy but he is a lot stronger than he looks. Trust me. He can take care of himself. Dave, just stay in the car. Lock the doors if you feel unsafe." Ryan answered. "This is an emergency, you know. We have to go, now." Ryan got out of the car. Dave reluctantly climbed from the backseat of the vehicle to the front. Rick shut the door, and both he and Ryan heard the car doors lock immediately. Ryan wanted to comment but he knew he had more important things to do. They were so close to finding Horatio.

"What 3 places are we looking at?" Ryan asked as they both continued walking.

Rick started to look around. He glanced at the paper, back to the homes, and then back to the paper again. He pointed to one of the houses. It was obviously supposed to be white, but it was so dirty it looked almost yellow. The front windows were busted out and the door was wide open.

"That's one of them." He pointed to a house a few more feet ahead. It was a dark blue, with moss and mold all around the door. Ryan was cringing at the thought of it being on the doorknob and him having to touch it. "That's another."

Ryan saw the last address but he couldn't see it anywhere. "Where's the other one?"

Rick stopped and looked. "I have no idea. Maybe a glitch? Maybe the tracker made a mistake."

Ryan shook his head. "It never makes a mistake." He said. "Maybe it's farther down. And I think once we find it, it should be the first house we check out."

Silently, Rick followed Ryan. Ryan didn't like Rick walking behind him, so he slowed down to match Rick's pace.

"I didn't think you'd want me walking anywhere near you." Rick said.

"We're here on a mission. What happens in our personal lives is irrelevant right now. But after this, you're right- I'd prefer not having you anywhere near me." Ryan told him.

They both continued on walking together could hear the sounds of their shoes on the road with the rocks and patches of broken concrete colliding. There were barely any birds out chirping, even though it was a bright and sunny day. There was a dog barking somewhere in the distance. Both men silently wondered how the dog was possibly living here under these conditions. Really, the place looked like a ghost town. The whole neighborhood looked like it would be demolished soon.

"There's another house." Rick brought Ryan out of his thoughts. Ryan looked but couldn't see what Rick was talking about. "You see that green house up there? There's a yellow one behind it. You can see it from where I am."

Ryan stepped to the left, almost bumping into Rick. Sure enough, there was another home sitting behind the green house. "That has to be it. Makes sense to kidnap someone and then keep them in a place where people couldn't find without trying hard enough, right?" Ryan said. Rick nodded in agreement, and they both continued on.

Ryan saw Rick's hand going for his right side holster, where he kept his gun.

"Why can you carry a gun, but Dave can't?"

"Well, for one, Dave is in charge of Audio/Visuals in the lab. That does not warrant a gun. But, you must know that Dave applied to be an officer and was denied. So why would we give a gun to someone who couldn't even become a cop?" Rick shrugged.

"Dave was denied becoming an officer?"

"Yeah. You didn't know that?"

"No."

"Oh." Rick said. "Well, that happened. I can carry a gun because I am a Sergeant, Ryan. And not to mention the Head of the SOC Swat Team. It'd be foolish for me to not have a gun."

Ryan and Rick both stopped at the driveway of the green house. The dog's barking was a lot louder, meaning they were closer to it. Ryan even fancied the thought of it being a guard dog, to protect any unwanted intruders from the house. Since Ryan couldn't exactly see the dog yet, he figured it was at the yellow house.

Ryan started up the driveway toward the back, only to have Rick put his arm out to stop him. Ryan almost exploded in anger. Rick had been annoying and pissing him off since the bathroom incident. But the way Rick looked at him made him stop. "Ryan, you're pregnant. You have to be careful. Let me go first, okay?"

Ryan quickly nodded. He was right. "Okay, sure."

Rick stepped in front of Ryan. He had his gun out and pointed already in his right hand, but his left arm was extended backward to Ryan. As if to make sure he was staying behind him. Ryan took that opportunity to also pull out his gun. The men both walked very quietly and slowly. Rick peered around the corner of the home to the yellow house. He stopped walking suddenly, causing Ryan to bump into him. "That dog is on alert." He told Ryan. "It's already staring at me. But it's not moving."

Ryan moved to the side of Rick to get a better look. Sure enough, he was right again. The dog was there in front of the house barking while staring at them. But it didn't move.

"Maybe it's trained to attack when we get close." Rick suggested.

Ryan shook his head as he looked at the dog. "Or it's tied to that mailbox, so it can't attack anyways."

Rick looked closer to the dog, sighed, then lowered his gun. They slowly walked toward the dog, that stopped barking and was just staring at them now. It would have been scary if the dog itself didn't look so frightened. With each step they took, the dog backed away farther until it couldn't move anymore. Ryan approached the dog, much to Rick's dismay. But Ryan just brushed him off.

Ryan held out his hand to the dog.

"Worst guard dog, ever." Rick stated.

"He's probably just for show." Ryan answered. "You know, to scare away people? But he's harmless. Look how scared he is." The dog was walking back to Ryan slowly but surely.

"Yeah well, since he's been barking this entire time, if someone was here they know we are too. Let's keep moving."

Ryan waved to the dog and followed Rick up to the ugly yellow house. The door was ajar but the windows were boarded up with wood. Rick raised his gun again, and also put his arm back toward Ryan to keep him at bay. Even though Ryan knew he was concerned about his safety as he was pregnant, he was still annoyed by how protective he was being. Then again, Rick could have just breathed heavily and Ryan would have been annoyed by him.

Rick pushed the door open slowly, trying to be inconspicuous. But that didn't work out as the door loudly creaked open. He went inside fully with Ryan right behind him. Ryan instantly began gagging at the horrible stench coming from the home. "What the hell is that smell?"

Rick's nose wrinkled in disgust. There was blood on the floors and walls. Rick saw Ryan notice them, but he didn't comment on it so Rick didn't either. _Probably trying to remain optimistic,_ Rick thought.

Rick continued on through the one-story home. He walked very slowly through the house, turning very frequently to be sure that no one was coming behind him. Which, Ryan thought was ridiculous considering how small the home was. And there wasn't anything for anybody to hide behind.

The first room they stepped into was the living room. The carpets were brown with obvious dried blood stains on it. But there was no furniture. There was a small blue blanket in the corner that looked to be for a small child, but that was it. Ryan wondered what the rest of the house looked like.

He kept going, past Rick and into the next room. It was a kitchen but there was nothing in it except for an old looking refrigerator and a broken table. Upon further inspection, Ryan saw something shiny on the ground. Handcuffs. He heard walking behind him, and knew Rick was now in the room. "I think the house is clear. I just checked the bedroom- nothing." Rick told him.

"Yeah, I figured it was clear." Ryan went to pick up the cuffs, but saw they were attached to the leg of the table. "You think these are Horatio's?"

"Probably. Whoever took him must have kept him handcuffed to the table." Rick eyed the table. "Although, it doesn't seem too sturdy or strong to me. So I don't see how they could keep him here. I mean, unless they were holding a weapon to him- like a knife to his throat, or a gun to his head, or-."

"Please stop talking." Ryan said. He didn't even want to think about anything like that.

Rick nodded. "Right. Sorry. You uh, wanna look around some more? I brought some envelopes to collect evidence in, just in case we needed it."

Ryan said yes. He entered another room, which he assumed was the bedroom. It was almost as ugly as the living room. The walls had ugly, moss-filled wallpaper that was peeling off. And the smell, Ryan noticed, was a lot closer. That was when Ryan noticed the bathroom next to the bedroom.

_Well, there isn't any water here. That's probably where the smells coming from._

Ryan had to leave the room just so he wouldn't throw up and probably pass out from the smell. When he entered the living room again, he saw Rick kneeling on the ground. He had a pair of scissors and a knife, cutting into the bloodstained carpet. He pulled pieces off and put them into the envelope he had brought. When he finished, Rick used the scissors to scrape the dry blood off the walls, too. Then wordlessly, both men left as there was nothing else to do or say.

As Ryan walked down the driveway, though they were a distance away, he could see Dave frantically waving to them. Rick and Ryan sped up their pace, but Ryan had suddenly stopped and looked at the dog, who was still obviously scared. "I can't just leave it here."

"Ryan, is now the time to be picking up pets?"

"I'll be quick." He waved him hand. He went back to the mailbox and approached the dog. He seemed to like Ryan now, because he didn't cower away like he had done originally. When Ryan pet him, he shook his leg. Ryan unhooked his leash from the mailbox and started off again, saying "come on, boy" over his shoulder. Apparently, that was all it took because the dog had run off. Past Rick and Ryan, and right to the car door that Dave had left open for them. Dave was sitting in the front seat, body turned to face them and using his hands to frantically gesture to them.

They eventually made it back to the car, where Dave was petting the dog sitting in the front seat.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked.

"A car started coming down here. The driver saw me and turned and sped off. I didn't see his face because he had sunglasses on though. So, I'm actually guessing he saw me." Dave answered. "What's with the dog?"

"Ryan decided he needed a pet."

Ryan glared at Rick. "Lay off. Dave, did you pay attention to the car- do you know what it looks like?"

"Yeah, and I got the license plate number. I can run the numbers when we go back to the lab." He answered. Rick and Ryan buckled up, Dave took the initiative to buckle up the large dog and roll down the windows even farther for him since it was a pretty hot day. The now four went back to the lab, where Ryan waited in the car with the dog while Rick and Dave went inside to try to run the plates. The dog seemed to be warming up to Ryan, at least he thought. He was nudging his face against Ryan's hand and whenever Ryan stopped petting him, he'd try to get his attention again.

Ryan was disappointed to see Rick and Dave looking rather dejected. Dave informed Ryan that there was no way they could run the plates then and there. The night team lab was already there and pretty much all the equipment was being used. And none of them wanted to risk it and get caught then have to explain everything. So, tomorrow they would try.

Ryan and Rick pulled up to Rick's home. He went inside, told Alana to collect her things and to hurry up.

"But Jasmine was going to take me to the park. She said we could swing together." Alana protested.

"I know and maybe you two can hang out again some other time." Ryan told her. "But right now, we have to leave. I promise you and Jasmine can see each other again."

"When?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Alana."

"Daddy."

"Alana you have to go now." Rick stated. Ryan, Alana, and Jasmine, who was also in the room, had turned to him after hearing his voice suddenly. "Ryan and I will set up a little play date for you and Jasmine soon. Maybe this weekend, if he allows it."

Ryan hesitated. He didn't want to chaperon anything if Rick would be there because there was no way in hell he'd leave Alana with him. But ultimately, he wanted to make his little girl happy. He turned back to her. "This weekend sounds good. As long as Jasmine isn't busy with her other friends, of course. Now go get your things, Alana."

Momentarily, Alana seemed to accept that answer. But then she frowned. "Why do we have to leave?"

"I'll tell you after we get home." Ryan answered. "But please go get your things. I'll take you to the park later."

Alana stared at her dad. Then, she looked to Rick- everyone noticing just how long she stared at him. Finally, Alana gave a hug to Jasmine and left to go collect her things. When she returned, she thanked Mr. Rick for letting her stay there and asked Jasmine if they could see each other this weekend. Jasmine agreed and Rick said she was welcome. Ryan and Alana got into the car with the dog he had brought along, and they were on their way back to their home.

When they made it back, Ryan told Alana to go out back and play while he took her things inside. The dog seemed pretty scared of Alana at first, until she started petting him. Then he followed her outside. First, Ryan wanted to inspect the house to make sure everything was safe and okay. He was upset with himself for not thinking to do that before he brought her home, but he was still so upset about what had happened with Rick that he hadn't thought about it. Normally as a trained CSI and officer, a father and as a person with common sense he would have. But he was just thankful at the moment that there seemed to be no signs of anything bad or out of place with their home.

Ryan came outside with a glass of orange juice for Alana. At first, he didn't see her but he could hear her little giggle. She had to have been behind the trees in the backyard again. Horatio and Ryan had warned her to not do that anymore because she had climbed up and had fallen one too many times already. But she did it anyways. She thought it was fun.

"Alana, come out for a moment." Ryan called out, not really sure where to be looking.

Suddenly, Alana dropped in front of him. She tumbled over, not falling completely though. The look on her face just screamed feigning innocence. She knew she wasn't supposed to be climbing the trees. And she definitely knew to not just jump out of it like that either.

"No more." Ryan said as stern as he could.

Alana nodded and took the small pink cup of juice out of Ryan's hand. She took a small sip and handed it back to him. "Thanks daddy."

"Yeah, it's pretty warm out. I'll put it over there for when you want more. But first I wanted to talk to you a little bit."

"Is it dad?" Alana asked. "I miss him. I like when he reads to me. He does the funny voices. Tell him to come home."

Ryan nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I miss him, too. But you know, I think it's time I should tell you the truth- that he's not on vacation."

Alana's head turned to the side. "He's not?"

"No. Actually, something happened. I don't want to worry you or make you freak out or anything. But you need to know just in case something else bad happens to me, too." Ryan said slowly.

Alana's eyes widened. "What's wrong?"

"Well, he had to… go… undercover. To catch a bad guy." Ryan told her.

"Undercover? Will you have to go, too?"

"Rick's been helping out a lot." Ryan ignored the question, because he wasn't so sure how to answer it. "The bad guy is very unpredictable and he could have shown up here anytime. That's why we had to stay with Rick for a little while."

"Why did we have to leave? Did we annoy Mr. Rick?" Alana questioned.

He shook his head. "No, no. Nothing like that. He actually wanted us to stay. But I thought we had bothered him enough. He's been really… great… to us, and I'm thankful. But it was time we came home. And I know you'll miss Jasmine, but you'll see her this weekend and I promise I'll take you guys out to do whatever you want."

Alana looked down.

"Alana, are you okay?"

"I don't like Mr. Rick." She said softly.

"Why not? You two seemed to get along well."

"He's really nice to me. And he let me eat pizza and he colored with me once." She said. "But I don't like it when he stares at you."

Ryan was confused. He hadn't noticed Rick staring at him. But he figured that was just Alana's child imagination. "He stares at me?"

She nodded. "Sometimes when we're talking, he just stares at you. And when he came to pick us up that one day, he did, too. And in the car, and I got scared cuz I didn't think he was looking at the street anymore. He does it a lot more than that, too."

Ryan was pretty quiet. He wasn't sure how to take in that information. He was well aware of Rick's feelings for him. It was now very apparent. But he hadn't even noticed Rick staring at him. He just assumed that Alana was exaggerating. But he figured it did make sense- before Ryan and Horatio had gotten together when he had a massive crush on the lieutenant, he constantly stared at him. He was shocked Horatio hadn't noticed at all. And now it made sense to Ryan that whenever he and Rick spoke, he would catch Alana staring at him. He just thought it was because she didn't know him too well. But now he knew otherwise.


	11. Lab Drama

Eleven:

From the moment the elevator doors opened, and Ryan stepped out, the air felt thick with tension. Almost everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at him. Some glanced and went back to whatever, but some stared with disapproving gazes. Even though he and Horatio had never 'officially' came out to the lab, it was still obvious to everyone there that they had a relationship.

And he knew that now everyone knew what had happened the other day in the bathroom stall with Rick. And he knew it was because Eric Delko had loose lips.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan made his way past everyone as quickly as he could. He was careful to avoid eye contact with anyone. He went into the first room he saw, which thankfully was the break room. No one was in there yet, leaving Ryan alone and feeling grateful. There was a brewed pot of coffee on so he grabbed himself a cup and sat there in the silence for a little while.

When Calleigh had started to enter the room, Ryan looked at her. The two shared extended eye contact before she shook her head and left the room without a word. She didn't even want to be in the same room as Ryan. He figured as much, though. Everyone loved Horatio. People loved Ryan too, he was sure of it, but obviously if someone crossed Horatio they'd take his side immediately. Ryan could understand that. If he had actually done something bad in the first place.

After finishing up his coffee, Ryan left the room and spotted Valera. He figured he might as well be useful.

"Hey Valera." He said. Her head snapped up and she smiled softly to him. "Need any help?"

"Not really, no. But I'm not opposed to it. Grab some gloves and a lab coat and get over here." She said. Ryan always liked Valera. She didn't let what was going on affect her work.

Ryan did as he was told, slipping his arms through the sleeves of a lab coat. He put on gloves and stood next to Valera. She handed him a slide and turned on a microscope. "You are looking at a fingernail. It was found at the crime scene and we need to see if it matches any of our victims or if there is a third party involved."

"Got it." Ryan said.

He looked through the microscope and then looked back to one of the photographs that lay on the desk. He had done that a few times before concluding "this definitely doesn't belong to the female. She had purple nail polish on and this nail is red."

"That's right."

"And I'm sure this doesn't belong to the boyfriend either. Because, I think the red is blood. But the males nails were completely clean."

"That's what I thought too." Valera nodded. "Always good to have a second opinion, right?"

She nodded at her own comment and began shifting through the photographs again.

"Hey Valera; how bad is it?"

"Well any murder case is bad, I guess. But it-."

Ryan shook his head. "No, I mean here. What are people saying about me?"

Valera pursed her lips. She was quiet for a moment. Then finally, she sighed and shrugged. "It's not good, Ryan. People are saying that Horatio's not on vacation at all- he's been gone too long for that and there's already been questions but everyone was afraid to ask anything. They say you two broke up so he's taking personal time off."

"That's crazy."

"Because he found out about your affair with Rick that apparently has been going on for a while now." She finished.

"That's even crazier." Ryan told her. "You don't believe that do you?"

"Well originally, I didn't. But I don't know what to believe. Eric said he caught you both and I don't see why he would lie about that, you know. And with Horatio just up and leaving to go on an unexpected 'vacation' is just fishy. Especially since Rick was the one who told us, and not him or you." She answered. "I don't want to jump to conclusions though. I like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth."

Ryan shook his head. "There is no affair with Rick."

"And what about what Eric said? He caught you two were caught in the bathroom together."

"That's complicated."

"Right." Valera answered. She went back to looking at the slides. Though she still smiled at him, Ryan had the feeling now that he wasn't wanted around here anymore. And he had a feeling that she didn't believe him. He took off the gloves and lab coat and disposed of them properly. Then Ryan left without another word and made his way down to the Audio/Visual Lab.

He saw Dave sitting there with his back to him. He was looking at the computer screen with large headphones on. He was also writing something down. Ryan felt he shouldn't interrupt, but he really needed to talk to Dave. So Ryan sat down next to him, which seemed to startle Dave.

He took off his headphones, but continued writing wordlessly next to Ryan.

"Hey, uh, what's this for?"

"Work." Was his reply.

Ryan chuckled, uneasily. "Right. I meant the case, but… Did you run the plate yet? I can see you're busy and I don't want to bother you, though."

"Nope."

"I can run it myself then?" Ryan suggested. "So that you won't have to stop what you're doing."

"It's over there. On the desk." Dave answered curtly. Ryan stood and found the small paper that had a license plate number on it. He almost walked out, but Ryan had to ask. "Dave, do you really believe it? You know why Horatio's gone. You know it's not true, right?"

"Doesn't matter what I think. What you do is none of my business."

"But I know you like Rick." Ryan told him. "I picked up on that a while ago. And if you don't want to admit it, that's okay. But even now it's obvious given how you're acting toward me. I just want you to know that it's not true. Nothing happened. So I don't deserve to be shunned."

Dave put his pen down and turned to Ryan. "So Eric Delko- Horatio Caine's best friend who has no reason to lie- did not catch you and Rick in the bathroom together?"

"Well he did, but nothing happened! You've known me for years and you know that I would never-."

"I don't know you." Dave shrugged. "I thought I did. Until I realized Rick know's a lot more about you than I did. And we're supposed to be friends. He knew you were pregnant before I did. Why would you tell him and not me?"

"I don't know, you weren't around and I was dying to tell someone. That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you believing that nothing is going on between me and Rick. At all." Ryan said.

Dave nodded. Then he turned back to his work. "Okay."

_Okay_ , Ryan thought. Just 'okay'. So Dave obviously didn't believe him. He didn't even want to face Calleigh or Natalia. He felt Walter would still talk to him, though he'd be upset with him. Worst though, Ryan didn't want to see Eric. This reminded him of when he first started working at the lab. Ryan would go out of his way to avoid social interaction with Eric, and he would too. He didn't want to have to resort to that but he knew it was probably the best choice. He knew Eric. And he knew that he would say something to him if they crossed paths. Eric looked so mad the other day. Ryan was afraid he'd hit Rick and lose his job. And Ryan know if Eric didn't give a damn about hitting Rick, he definitely didn't give a damn about hitting Ryan, too.

Ryan hadn't seen Rick yet today. Then again, Rick had no reason to be on their floor, and Ryan had no reason to be on his. There was so much Ryan wanted to say to Rick. Yet, he didn't want to see his face. He had a feeling that if he saw Rick he'd have too much anger to even form coherent sentences together. Ryan was curious to see how long this day would drag on.

_I should have called off sick._

Ryan made his way to another part of the lab. He saw the receptionist. She smiled sweetly to him and continued talking to an officer nearby. He was tired of seeing her face everyday, too. He knew that she was involved with Horatio's disappearance, but he couldn't do anything about it. Worst of all, he had to keep an eye on Eric, Calleigh and Dave. It was hard to watch Eric, since he wanted to avoid him. It was hard to try to be around Calleigh because he knew she would have a disapproving look all day. And Dave was also upset with Ryan. So he knew that watching over him would also be a disaster.

Ryan took a deep breath and walked down the halls, looking for the long blond hair. When he finally saw her, she was giggling along with Natalia. Boa Vista noticed Ryan first. She had suddenly stopped laughing and looked away. Calleigh followed suit, but tried to walk away.

"Calleigh, wait," Ryan called out to her. She didn't even attempt to stop, so Ryan continued after her. "Cal, come on, I have to talk to you."

"If it's about a case then speak. If not, then I don't want to hear it, Ryan." She was cold, as expected. Natalia just stood there, not saying a word.

"Calleigh, please listen to me. You know how much I hate Rick. Do you honestly believe that-."

Calleigh had stopped and dropped her voice to a harsh whisper. "No, Ryan I don't know how much you hate Rick. I thought I did. I thought we all did down here. But we've all noticed how chummy you two have been lately. But we haven't said anything cuz none of us wanted to believe or even acknowledge that it was true. But now we see that it is."

Ryan was taken aback. He knew that she'd be mad but he hadn't expected this. "Wait, everyone thinks it's true? You all already thought I was having an affair but just didn't say anything?"

"Yes, Ryan. Because none of us wanted to cause drama or worse, accuse you of something you didn't do. But look how well that turned out. You've been acting so weird lately. We all see it. And Eric told us all that you confided in him about your and Horatio's problems. It makes sense."

Ryan didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything else. Out of all of them, Calleigh was the most rational person he knew. But he found out the truth- what she and everyone else thought.

He cleared his throat. "Well, then it's good to know what you all think of me and my character." Ryan shrugged. "I guess there's nothing else to say then."

Calleigh nodded in agreement. When Ryan turned his back to her and started off, he didn't get to see the look Calleigh was giving him. It was softer than it just was moments ago. More somber, and sympathy filled. Calleigh let out a deep breath and shook her head. Maybe she was wrong.

Ryan continued walking on, not even sure where he was going. When he saw the men's room, he rushed in and ran into a stall immediately. He lifted the toilet set and proceeded to drop to his knees and vomit into the porcelain bowl. Morning sickness.

When Ryan was finished, he quickly stood and tried to wipe the dirt from his pants. When he left the stall, he almost rolled his eyes at the sight of Rick standing there with a wet paper towel in his hand, outstretched toward Ryan.

He took the towel and wiped his mouth off, walking past Rick and throwing the paper towel into the trashcan. As Ryan started washing his hands, he cursed himself for the one day he decided to not bring breath mints to work with him.

"You okay?" Rick asked him. "Do you need me to get anything for you?"

"I need you to leave me alone. I need you to stay as far away from me as possible. I need Horatio here with me. I also need a breath mint. And mouthwash." Ryan answered.

Rick nodded his head. "Okay, well I can probably go get the mints and mouthwash."

"No, don't do anything for me. I don't need your help."

"What's up with Dave? Why is he being so short with me?"

Ryan chuckled. "'Why is he being so short with me?'" He mocked. "Let me think. It could be because he has a massive crush on you. Why; I don't know, I don't see the appeal. But he thinks we're sleeping together. Just like everyone else thinks, too."

When Rick didn't say anything, Ryan smiled and laughed again. "Everyone think's it true- they must think I just get around. Never saw that coming. Then again, I didn't see a lot of things coming."

"Ryan, you're not like that."

"Well yeah, I know that. Even you know that. But they don't. Everyone out there thinks that I'm sleeping with you. And none of them said anything. They just silently judged me. But now, it's all out in the open. God, this feels like high school again." Ryan wiped his hands off with a dry towel and sighed. "As much as I don't want to see you right now, I need you."

Rick nodded his head. "Just say the word Ryan. I'll do almost anything for you."

Ryan almost responded with something sarcastic and snarky. But he was in no mood and decided against it. "I have to run this plate number. I just," he sighed, stumbling over his words. "I just need someone with me while I do it. I can't ask Dave. And I can't ask anyone else. So will you just…?"

"Let's go, then."

Ryan knew that moments ago, he was thinking about what he'd say to Rick once he saw his face. He knew he wanted to yell and scream obscenities at him. He also knew he wanted to hit him a few times. But none of that happened. Ryan didn't want to do any of that anymore. He just wanted to run the license plate number, track down the car owner and get Horatio back so they can be a happy family again.

"You know I said I'd do anything for you right?" Rick asked. "Well, ask for a mint, cuz you really need one, Ryan."

He let out a short laugh and then shook his head. "Can you get me some mints, too?"

Rick agreed. They left the bathroom together. Sure, they got a few looks but Ryan figured what the hell. They all already thought he was sleeping with Rick. They all talked about it amongst each other, well, to everyone except Ryan.

Ryan and Rick found an empty room, and booted up the computer. Rick stood by the door to keep a lookout while Ryan searched the database. Ryan slowly typed in the numbers. His mind was filled with worry- what if it's a dead plate and it's not registered to anyone? What if the car's stolen or rented? What if it's just another dead-end?

When a name popped up, Ryan's breathed hitched and he stared at the screen. "Son of a bitch…" He murmured, loud enough for Rick to hear.

"What is it? Did you find something?" Rick asked. He came to the computer and also looked at the screen. First, his mouth hung agape. He hadn't thought about that at all. "Oh."

"I'm going to kill him." Ryan turned off the screen and marched past Rick. Rick stared at the blank screen a few more moments before running after Ryan. The words and his stupid picture still etched in his mind.

DAN COOPER- FORMER AUDIO/VISUAL LAB TECH AT MIAMI DADE


	12. Confrontation

Twelve

Rick was jogging after Ryan, calling out his name. People turned to see what the commotion was. But Ryan just kept on marching on. Even Dave passing by was just going to ignore it. But he couldn't when he saw the very pissed off look on Ryan's face.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" He asked Ryan. But he got no response. So, he turned to Rick completely confused.

"He ran it. He knows." Rick tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, seeing as everyone was listening in. He didn't want them to figure out what was going on. Dave followed next to Rick, forgetting why he was even mad at Ryan in the first place. Ryan ran the license plate. He knew the identity of the driver. This was more important than a silly crush.

Ryan was in the parking lot before Rick finally broke out in a full sprint to catch up to him. When he did, he grabbed Ryan's hand to stop him from going any farther. "Ryan slow down. Are you insane? Don't you know how dangerous this is; are you trying to go without backup? And during office hours?"

"I have to go."

"Not during office hours. What if they need your help on a case?"

"Rick, you don't-."

"Stay here, Ryan."

"And let another moment go by without Horatio? He could be dead for all I know right now." Ryan yelled at him, his emotions finally taking over. "You don't understand. I love Horatio. It's killing me not being with him. He's been gone for a month now. _A month_. I have the chance to finally get some answers and you don't want me to go?"

"I don't think it's smart. Ryan, you're pregnant! You're so damn quick to jump into action but you can't do that." Rick told him.

"I can do what I want. Stop trying to control my actions." Ryan shook his head. "You said 'just say the word' and you'll do anything for me- you're either with me or against me right now. I'm going with or without you."

Rick sighed. Ryan knew he couldn't just let him go alone. It was completely dangerous for not only Ryan, but his unborn child. He had to go with him. Rick looked back to Dave, as if asking if he were coming along with them. Dave, taking the hint, shook his head. "I'll stay behind. Sorry Ryan, I have a lot of work to do. But stay safe. And let me know what happens."

Ryan nodded and climbed into the front seat of his car. Rick jogged to the passenger side and and got inside with Ryan. Dave waved them off, sighing as they were both out of eyesight. He just had a very bad feeling. He knew Ryan would never have listened to him though.

Rick was abnormally quiet, Ryan noticed. It wasn't like he wanted to have conversation with him in particular. But he was now just so used to Rick trying to stay calm and be the voice of reason. But now he was just so quiet. Maybe he didn't know what to say. Maybe Rick didn't want Ryan to go now; he was right, it was a dangerous situation. But maybe Rick didn't want Ryan to be so close to finding Horatio.

That thought had crossed Ryan's mind a few times. Rick Stetler had never liked Horatio. That was a well-known fact that nobody could deny. He did any and everything he could to get rid of him. And Ryan had thought maybe this was his chance to finally make that happen. But Ryan dismissed those thoughts almost immediately. He didn't think Rick would go this far.

"I'm sorry."

The words came so unexpectedly. 

Rick hadn't expected Ryan to say that at all.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry." Ryan repeated, softly. "I know I've been a little crazy and moody. You have to understand why though. Horatio's gone and you know I love him. I'm worried about him. I'm worried about Alana and everyone in the lab. And then when you tried to kiss me, I panicked. Rightfully so, I think, but maybe I was a little out of line or harsh with you. So, I'm sorry. You really have been helping me a lot lately when you don't have to. You could have just dropped this whole thing but you didn't. So, I'm grateful."

Rick nodded. He cracked a small smile. "I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. But… no, nevermind."

"But what?"

"Nothing."

"Rick?"

"But I thought you wanted me to." Rick answered.

Ryan's face twisted up. He almost looked to Rick but he had to keep his eyes on the road in front of him. "What? Why?"

Rick chuckled. "Well, I thought the signs were there. We've been closer lately. We've been talking and joking around; just really getting along. And the way you smiled at me sometimes. I know you played clueless about not knowing I liked you, but I think you really knew. You were just being coy. I thought maybe you wanted me to kiss you. So I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. At least not at the lab."

Ryan chanced a look at Rick, who he was surprised to see already looking at him. Ryan quickly turned back to the road. He didn't say anything else, just shook his head.

When they found the place, Ryan came to a screeching stop. It was so sudden that the cars behind him had to swerve to avoid hitting the car. Ryan didn't even have to look at Rick to know that he was giving him the largest 'what the actual fuck' face ever. Ryan only shook his head, and mumbled an apology as he unhooked his seat belt and got out of the car. Rick was quick to get out, too, and stand in front of Ryan, stopping him.

"Slow down there, Ryan." Rick told him. "You can't just burst in there. What if he's armed?"

"I don't think he is."

"Well if he's able to hold Horatio Caine captive, he has to be armed."

Ryan frowned. "Damn, you're right. Okay, you go ahead of me."

Rick nodded, and started walking toward the large apartment building. Ryan followed an adequate space behind him. Rick opened the doors to the building and walked inside. The men were both startled by a man's voice calling out to them. They both stopped in their tracks and looked at the man that stood behind a long mahogany counter. He had a smile but was now bearing a face that showed confusion.

"Uh, I'm sorry, what did you say?" Rick asked him.

"I said 'hello, can I help you guys?'. So, can I help you?"

Ryan shrugged. "I didn't expect this place to have a doorman. It's so fancy." He said. "We're looking… uh, does Dan Cooper live here?"

"I'm sorry sir, I can't reveal information like that." The man told him.

Rick stepped in. "We're friends of his. We just couldn't remember if it was this building or the one down the street." Rick told him, hoping that their was an actual apartment building down the street. But he did have a layout of Miami permanently etched into his brain, so he was sure of it.

The doorman was incredibly skeptical. He stared from Rick to Ryan, and then looked at a book on the desk. "Mr. Cooper hadn't mentioned having guests over. I'll call up to his room and have him verify so-."

Rick rolled his eyes and approached the desk. He reached into his pocket, flashing his gun to the man, but pulled out his badge. "Look, we're here on business. Dan Cooper can't know we're here. He'll run if he does, and if he runs, our case is, well, compromised. You really don't want to be the one that _ruins_ a case do you?"

The man's eyes were wide with fear, and he looked at his book. "Uh, M-Mr. Cooper is on floor 2, room 27. But you can't tell anyone I let you up; I could lose my job."

"Understood. I won't say a word. Don't call up and warn him either or else we'll have to take you into custody as well. Thank you for cooperating." Rick nodded to Ryan to get him to follow him. Ryan quickly followed Rick, being sure to glance at the doorman again. Ryan was sure he just got fear struck into his very core.

"Did you just threaten that guy?" Ryan asked Rick as they got onto the elevator.

Rick hummed in response. "You would've done the same thing. We're a lot alike, Ryan."

"Except I never try to take Horatio down." He answered. The elevator doors shut and a ding was heard. "But, you're right. I would've threatened him. It's like my forte, you know." They remained quiet for the longest thirty seconds of Ryan's life. When the elevators dinged again and the doors opened, Ryan looked to Rick.

"You okay? This is what you've been waiting for, right?"

They both stepped off the elevator and Ryan nodded. "Yeah, of course. But, I don't know, I guess I'm just in my own head. And I'm still worried about what will happen to Horatio, or Alana or everyone at the lab."

"It'll be fine."

"I guess I should say thanks for coming with me."

Rick just smiled.

"Let's go get him." Rick said. Ryan nodded in agreement and followed, looking for room number 27.


	13. Rick and Ryan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should put a trigger warning here: some physical violence is in this chapter.

Thirteen

When Dan Cooper opened the door, a rush of different emotions had ran through Ryan. He was pissed- incredibly pissed off. Dan was obviously involved. Whether he actually was the one that had taken Horatio or he knew who it was that did, he was involved and that pissed Ryan off. Hadn't Dan done enough? Hadn't he fucked things up enough with him stealing Tim Speedles credit card, and getting Calleigh abducted? Why did he have to torment Ryan and Horatio now?

Ryan was upset then, and he was upset now. He was full of rage and just wanted to punch Dan. Hard. In the face. In the stomach. In the back of the head. Anywhere, really. As long as he felt pain.

Dan was surprised. He had expected his pretty neighbor to drop by, like she said she would. So when he opened the door, imagine his surprise when he saw Rick Stetler and Ryan Wolfe standing there. He had attempted to close the door back, immediately, but Rick had bum-rushed inside. Dan had tried to run, but Rick had physically grabbed him and body slammed him into the ground. A loud groan of pain was emitted from Dan's mouth.

Ryan hadn't expected Rick to do that. He shut the door, as to not draw attention from the other occupants of the building, although he was sure that was too late with the loud noises, and Dan's incoherent yelling.

Ryan turned to see Dan trying to crawl away, but Rick grabbed his leg pulling him back, forcing Dan back down onto the floor with a loud _oomph_. Ryan shook his head. Now, maybe it was time to step in. "Okay, Rick-" he said, but Rick had shoved Dan back down again. "Rick, maybe you should question him first before you get taken in for excessive force."

Rick had Dan's face smushed into the floor. He looked back to Ryan.

"For god's sake, he's right. Now get off of me and tell me what I did." Dan cried out. Rick released Dan a little, but not enough in order for him to be able to wiggle away. "Start talking, Cooper." Rick instructed him.

Dan groaned again. "Talk about what?"

Rick kneed Dan in the back. "We know you're involved with Horatio being missing."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We saw you there, Dan." Ryan said. "You drove off immediately. There's no way it's a coincidence that you showed up to the place Horatio was being held."

"That's ridiculous-."

"And I know that was you on the phone, so stop pretending to be innocent. You could've at least tried to disguise your voice. Or use a freaking rental car, you idiot." Ryan snapped.

Rick kneed Dan in the back again. "Really, you're not a very smart criminal, are you? Where is Horatio?"

"I don't know."

Rick breathed out heavily, and grabbed Dan's arm, twisting it as far as it would go without breaking. It caused a lot of pain for Dan, who screamed again. "Where is Horatio?" He asked again.

Dan shook his head as well as he could, seeing as his face was stuck to the floor. "I don't know!" He exclaimed. "I swear. It was only my job to keep him at the house and to answer the phone when you called."

Rick was startled when he went to twist Dan's arm again, but felt Ryan's hand on his shoulder to stop him. "It was your job?"

"He paid me to do it, I swear. By the way, he's not happy you took his dog."

"Worst guard dog ever. Who paid you?"

"I don't know."

Ryan let go of Rick, who took that as a sign to twist Dan's arm yet again. " _Ow_ , I didn't get a real name. He said he went by Red. He was paying me, but he never gave me the money so I quit. I don't know where he is or where he took Horatio. Please get off of me."

"What did the note mean 'say goodbye'? Is he going to kill Horatio or has he already?"

"I really don't know."

Rick and Ryan exchanged glances, unsure of whether or not they should believe what he was saying or not. But when people were under duress, they did tend to spill the beans. Ryan needed a moment to think. But he didn't have a moment. "What the hell do we do now?" He asked Rick. "We can't just let him go, but we can't bring him in either."

"We have to let him go, Ryan." Rick told him.

Ryan groaned and shook his head.

Rick kneed Dan again. "At least tell us how the receptionist is involved."

"Ow," Dan mumbled. "What receptionist?"

"From the lab."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. She shouldn't know a thing."

Ryan shook his head again and left the room. Rick got off of Dan and followed suit, not before letting him know that if he told anyone what happened he would be back and would shoot him point-blank. Ryan was already in the elevator, so Rick had to run to catch up. he passed a woman, who he had to admit was very beautiful. He turned his head and watched her go into Dan's room. She screamed, and Rick picked up the pace to Ryan.

The doors had closed just in time. Rick made it into the elevator. When they made it back down to the first floor, the doorman avoided eye contact with them. They left the building, got into the car and drove off.

~

Rick went inside a gas station and bought a few sodas while Ryan stood outside. When he last saw him, Ryan was leaning against the car. But when he came back out, Ryan was moving and muttering to himself.

"Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. This isn't fucking fair. It's not fair." Ryan was pacing back and forth. Rick was walking along with him, keeping the speed, and trying to hand Ryan his soda.

"Ryan calm down. It'll be okay. We're so much closer to finding Horatio. At least we can say that."

"No, it's not fair!" Ryan shouted. "I need him back. Now. Dan's acting so innocent like he doesn't know what's going on but I know he fucking does. He's a liar and I'm going to bust him."

Rick shook his head as he opened the car door. He put the sodas down in the cup holders. He then pointed to the seat. "Get in."

"Excuse me? I'm not ready to go back to the lab yet." Ryan said.

After Dan's place, Ryan had started driving them back but he had become so overwhelmed with emotion that he had to pull over. Luckily, it was at a gas station that didn't seem to be very occupied.

"No, just get in before someone see's you and calls the police on a crazy man swearing and walking back and forth. They'll think you're a loon." Rick told him. Ryan did as he was told and got into the car, wondering why he even listened and got into the passenger seat. It was his car, he should be driving.  
_Who am I kidding? I'm in no state to drive._

Rick got in the driver's side and sighed. "Look Ryan, it's going to be okay. We know Dan's lying. We just have to crack him. And we will. You're a tough guy and a great CSI. I'm a hard-ass and I'm a confident one at that. I know we can do it. So don't have a meltdown on me- toughen up. Horatio wants you to be strong."

When Ryan breathed in, it sounded like sniffling. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"But I am. I'm being crazy. I'm so hormonal. I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm just winging it here- going along with anything you say." Rick smiled a bit. It sounded like a joke but Ryan knew it was the truth. Ryan nodded and sniffled again.  
_Rick was right. I have to be strong. Horatio would want me to be. And I… whoa._

Ryan leaned back as Rick had leaned in close to him. He felt his eyes widen and he stared blankly at the man. Rick stared at him, too. For a moment it seemed like he was going to pull away again. But he didn't. Rick reached out, put his hand on the back of Ryan's head, gripping the hair not too tightly and guiding him back closer to him. Ryan felt all the breath leave his body and Rick moved in closer, keeping his head steady in place. Rick kissed him.

Ryan didn't do anything. He didn't kiss back. He didn't pull away. He just sat there wide-eyed. When he felt Rick's lips again, he took a quick breath and prepared for the next one he knew was coming. And it did come. Rick's lips connected with Ryan's again, his tongue touched his lip and this time, Ryan did something.

He opened his mouth slightly. Rick kissed him deeply, his tongue moving around. After a few times, Ryan finally moved his tongue along with Rick's. Rick moaned into the kiss, causing Ryan to shiver. It started slow, but eventually the kisses became feverish and frantic.

Rick broke away from the kiss and quickly dipped his face into Ryan's neck. He licked the area a few times before biting on it gently. Ryan instinctively moved closer to Rick to give him better access. Rick finally released Ryan's hair and Ryan felt his hands begin to wander.

It started from his back, then gradually moved down. Rick then started moving his hands forward, and rested them on Ryan's legs. Ryan made a soft noise as his eyes closed when Rick bit down harder.

It was when Ryan felt Rick's hands moving up and toward his crotch that his eyes opened and he put his hands in between the two of them.

"Wait, Rick…"

"Hmmm." Came Rick's muffled response, but he made no attempt to stop. Ryan started gently pushing him back more. Eventually Rick got the hint and stopped. He looked at Ryan's now shining brown-green eyes. His face was red. He wasn't crying hard or bawling, but tears were there in his eyes. Rick halted all movement and Ryan frantically shook his head.

He used his sleeve to wipe the small tears. "I'm sorry." Ryan said, realizing he's been apologizing a lot lately. "I shouldn't be doing this. I'm sorry, I don't want to lead you on. I love Horatio. I want him back."

"Well, kissing me won't bring him back, Mr. Wolfe." Ryan noticed how snippy his tone was.

"I know, Stetler. I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't stop you. Can we just go back to the lab, please?" Ryan looked in the mirror at his neck, hoping Rick didn't leave a mark on him. Thankfully, he didn't. Ryan kept his eyes to the front, not even daring to look at Rick. He was sure Rick was still staring at him, probably more confused now than ever. But he couldn't look at him just yet.

Even Ryan was more confused now than ever. He didn't like Rick. Some might say he hated him, and up until before all of this started, Ryan would have agreed with it. But now, he didn't hate Rick at all. He felt something for Rick, but Ryan couldn't quite tell what it was. It wasn't admiration. It wasn't loving, either. Usually. Although Ryan had to admit when Rick first kissed him, he didn't want him to necessarily. But when he kissed back, he did it amorously- Ryan was filled with want, need and desire. And Horatio wasn't there to help him with that. So, maybe Ryan was just turning to the first person that showed that he liked him. At least that was what he was thinking.

As Rick and he drove in silence, Ryan's mind was racing. He'd never cheated on Horatio before. And Horatio had never cheated on him. Ryan loved Horatio so much. Hell, he was still shocked that Horatio settled for him. And even though Horatio and Ryan had been having problems before this situation, he knew Horatio didn't deserve to be cheated on. Horatio never did anything to intentionally hurt Ryan.

If they fought, it didn't matter whose fault it was. Ryan could have said something entirely way out of line and have been wrong, but Horatio apologized first. He always apologized first. Though Ryan constantly told him not to, if the situation was actually his fault, Horatio did anyways. Ryan figured it was because Horatio didn't want him to be mad at him or upset any more. Horatio did say he hated seeing Ryan down and miserable. Worst, he hated when Ryan was mad at him. He did everything he could to make it up to him. That made Ryan sure Horatio loved him.

But that wasn't the case anymore.

Before Horatio went missing, when they fought or had an argument, Horatio would leave and disappear for hours. Now, Ryan knew Horatio wasn't out cheating or anything like that. He knew Horatio wouldn't do anything like that, it was completely out of his character. But it did cause dread in Ryan, not knowing where he was. So he eventually had to start calling Eric, Walter, or Calleigh to get them to talk to Horatio. After prying, they'd always eventually get Horatio to tell them where he was. And then they'd relay the message to Ryan so he'd have some peace of mind. But Ryan never told them why he had them do that. He always lied and told them that he was preparing a surprise for Horatio and needed to know when he'd be back. Or he'd say he was asleep when Horatio left and he had forgotten to tell him where he was. And Ryan couldn't call and ask because he didn't want to come off as attached or clingy.

Of course, Calleigh and Eric and Walter would always say he wasn't being clingy. It was perfectly acceptable for him to be worried or curious. But nevertheless, they'd do it for Ryan. Because they loved and cared about him and Horatio.

And now they all thought the absolute worst of him. And now Ryan had just proved them right.

He was startled when Rick's hand was in front of him. His eyes focused and saw he was holding tissues in hand. Ryan also saw that his glove box was now open. How long had he zoned out?

"Wipe your face. We're almost at the lab."

Ryan nodded and took the tissue. He tried to say thanks, but it came out as a strained whisper that he wasn't even sure Rick had heard. He wiped his eyes, his cheeks and then his nose. Ryan took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down. He blinked a few times, too before finally glancing at Rick. His face was different. It wasn't hard and angry like it usually was. It wasn't smiley as Ryan had gotten to see a few times when he started staying with him. Rick looked different. He couldn't put an emotion on it. "I'm sorry I hurt you." Ryan was sure Rick didn't hear him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for this


	14. Kyle

Fourteen

Alana was panicking. This was a crisis- one that couldn't be ignored. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have been so blind?

"He ate my crayons, daddy!"

Ryan groaned. He was sitting on the bathroom floor, having just thrown up the entirety of his dinner and whatever was left from lunch earlier that day. Ryan wiped his mouth with toilet paper and slowly looked to his daughter. "Alana, please. Just use your coloured pencils."

Alana was excited at first to have a dog. She named him Domino since he knocked things over all the time. When the dog knocked over and ruined all of Ryan's things, it was hilarious to Alana. But now that Domino had messed with something that was hers, it was no longer a laughing matter. This was serious business.

"You were supposed to keep an eye on him. I told you don't let him eat them."

"But he did! I need new ones."

"How many did he eat? And use your coloured pencils, like I said." Ryan told her, as he tried not to gag again.

"He ate my blue one."

"Just the blue?" He questioned. "You made it sound like he ate them all."

"But blue's my favorite colour."

"Oh well it's a good thing there non-toxic. I think we have some extra crayons in the drawer in the kitchen downstairs. I'll check, and then please give me peace. Daddy isn't feeling too well." Ryan told her.

Alana nodded, and was about to leave when Domino came into the bathroom. Ryan groaned at the other intrusion. Even when Domino curled up next to him. Alana frowned. "I want to make you feel better, too!" She exclaimed, trying to push Domino out of the way, but the large dog wouldn't bulge. "Will I get sick too? Can I stay home from preschool if I do?"

Ryan laughed. Only four years old and she was already trying to get out of classes. He could tell he'd have problems with her and school when she was a teenager. "No, sorry. You won't get sick- you can't catch what I have."

"Why not?"

"Well, because," Ryan shrugged. He'd have to tell her eventually. "It's not that kind of sickness. It's morning sickness- except it's not morning so I guess it's technically night sickness."

"What's _night sickness_?"

"Well night and morning sickness is what people usually have when they're pregnant."

"You have a baby in your belly?"

"I do. Can't you tell I'm getting a little bigger?" He lifted up the bottom of his shirt as well as he could with a dog leaning against him, and a child leaning against a dog. Alana could see a small section of his stomach, and it was a little bigger. It looked like Alana's belly when she ate too much ice cream. She gasped and squealed in delight. "I'm gonna be a big sister! Like Kyle."

"Well, Kyle's your brother, sweetie."

"Oh right! Kyle's here."

"What!?"

"Yeah, he's in my room. He knocked on the door but you were in the bathroom being all sicky so we started colouring together. And don't worry, I didn't just answer the door. Dad said not to open the door for strangers." She told him. "So I looked out the window first and Kyle's not a stranger, he's my brother. I did good, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, you did good." Ryan finally started picking himself off the floor. He washed his hands, and then bent down to pick Alana up. Domino got a little jealous, and started jumping on his hind legs at Ryan. But that dog was entirely way too big for Ryan to pick up. It was a Mastiff, after all, and probably around 200 pounds. He looked mean as hell but he was as gentle as could be. Ryan walked while carrying Alana back to her bedroom, where he saw Kyle sitting on the floor with his legs crossed with a pencil in his hand. When he saw Ryan, he stood.

Ryan put Alana down, and gave Kyle a hug. This wasn't uncommon for them now, since Ryan had started dating Horatio. But it was apparent that this hug wasn't welcomed. Kyle seemed put-off and he quickly got out of it. Ryan pretended not to notice, especially in front of Alana. He had a feeling something was wrong.

"Hi Kyle, what a nice surprise."

"Hey Ryan, I thought I'd just… stop in for a visit. Do you mind if we talk for a while?" He asked. Ryan nodded and ruffled Alana's hair. "I'll bring you up another pack of crayons in a minute. Kyle and I are going to go downstairs, so if you need us."

Alana nodded and poked Domino. Domino responded by licking her arm, causing her to laugh hysterically. Obviously, she and Domino had made up.

Ryan and Kyle made their way down the long stairs. When they reached the bottom, Ryan decided the kitchen would be the best place for them to sit down and talk. Kyle immediately took a seat while Ryan stood. "Do you want anything to drink or eat? I'm going to get some water for myself."

"Oh yeah, water would be fine, thanks."

Ryan nodded and grabbed two glasses. He filled them with water, and put a few ice cubes in each. Then, he handed one to Kyle as he too, sat down.

"So, what brings you by, Kyle?"

Kyle sighed as he stared at the glass. "I don't want to beat around the bush, Ryan. I'm looking for my dad. I know you and everyone else told me he's on 'vacation' but come on. He doesn't just take off like this and you know it. What's going on?"

"Oh, he-."

"And I tried talking to Eric but he got so mad and told me I needed to talk to you. He said you drove him away. But there's no way you'd do that. Right?"

"You went to Eric first?"

Kyle shook his head. "I don't mean any disrespect. Not that I don't trust what you say. It's just, I don't know, the whole situation seems weird, Ryan. What did Eric mean when he said you drove him away? Are you and dad having problems?"

Ryan was relatively quiet for a while. He was incredibly upset, and not to mention a little hurt. He and Eric hadn't started off as friends. But after a certain incident involving a nailgun and Ryan's eye they grew a lot closer. They weren't the best of friends, but they did hang out and talk like friends. At least Ryan thought they were. But now Eric is saying these awful things about him. And to Kyle, Horatio's son, at the worst. Granted, before what happened the other day with Rick, what Eric was saying had no truth behind it whatsoever. All he saw was Rick and Ryan in the bathroom together and he jumped to conclusion. Now that something had actually happened, it changed things a bit. But he still didn't drive Horatio away.

Ryan shook his head. "No, no. I didn't drive him off. He wanted to get away for a while. That's all."

Kyle frowned as he shook his head. "I know that's not true. When he called me he sounded-."

"Wait, he called you?"

"Yeah, a few times. He called me a lot when he first left, but as of now I haven't heard from him in maybe two weeks. Have you?" Kyle asked Ryan. Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I talked to him this morning. He's doing fine." He lied.

"It's just that when I talked to him he sounded different. Whenever I asked questions about how he was or anything like that, he just completely changed the subject. And we were never on the phone for more than 40 seconds, like he was being rushed off the phone. I just want to know what's going on." Kyle said. He seemed very sincere, and very worried. Maybe even scared a little. Ryan wasn't sure about what to say. He didn't want to worry Kyle. He also didn't want to lie to him either, but he really didn't think he had a choice.

Ryan sighed. "Actually, I'm not supposed to tell anyone this." He said. "But, um, Horatio had to go undercover for a while. You know how he used to do that a lot in the past- well, I guess his services were required again."

"Undercover? Really?" Kyle asked, seeming a little bit skeptical.

So Ryan nodded and tried to sell it as well as he could. "Oh yeah. I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you, Horatio told me to keep it a secret. But you seem very worried about him and I don't want that."

Kyle took a long drink from his cup. Ryan just sat there, wondering if he believed it or not. When Kyle finished, he took a deep breath and looked at Ryan. "Dad never thinks I can handle anything. He never tells me what's really going on."

"Well, that's his own way of protecting you, Kyle."

"I know. He means well." Kyle drank again. "But I'm not a kid, you know? I can handle the truth. Anyways, thanks. Sorry to bother you, Ryan."

"Nonsense, you're not bothering me. Alana and I love it when you visit. Actually, I wish you'd do it more often."

"I'll try. Hey, maybe I can take Alana out for a weekend? There's a new water park opening up. It's a little ways out there, but if you don't mind."

"Oh no, go ahead. Feel free to take Alana anytime." Ryan assured him. Kyle smiled and chuckled. He stood up along with Ryan and then hugged him. "Okay, I'll get out of your way now. But, I'll call you tomorrow to check in with you and Alana and Domino."

"Sounds good. Nice seeing you, Kyle." Ryan walked Kyle to the front door. Kyle waved goodbye, and was sure to yell very loudly to say goodbye to Alana. She yelled a goodbye back just as Ryan started shutting the door.

Ryan started making his way back up the stairs when he heard Alana yelling for him.

"Daddy!"

He stopped on the stairs. "Yes?"

"Crayons!"

Ryan almost had forgotten. He scurried back down the stairs and opened a drawer, hoping that there was still a spare pack of crayons in there. Luckily there was, so Ryan grabbed them and made his way back up the stairs to Alana and Domino.


	15. Interrogation

Fifteen

The lab was especially busy today.

Walter and Eric were together, half discussing their case and half discussing sports. They both cheered for the opposite team, so they seemed to be butting heads on whose team was superior.

Calleigh was in her own area, firing off a few rounds to try to pinpoint an exact gun and bullet casing that was used in her case. She seemed very focused, as one should be when they're firing a gun, so no one was messing with her at the moment.

Valera was also very focused. She was working on something top secret, and she refused to tell anybody about it. She just kept saying that they had to wait and see. Which made a lot of people around the lab curious and full of wonder.

Tom was in the autopsy room. Well, performing an autopsy. He also could not be bothered. Unless he sent for someone, or called for help he didn't want anyone in his area. Which was a bit unusual, as Tom loved having visitors. But not today.

Dave wasn't particularly busy, though. He was looking over a few things with an answering machine, but he stated many times that he couldn't find a thing on it. Although, he did keep trying, and that was all he could do.

Ryan was looking over evidence, and had just heard from Frank that he'd be needed soon to interrogate someone. So, he was trying to wrap up what he was doing so he could rush to the other side of the lab.

Natalia was nowhere to be found. Except, she had called Calleigh a while back and stated that on her way back from lunch she had gotten a flat tire. Eric had offered to go out to where she was to help, but she insisted that he stayed there. She had said that she had called for a tow truck and they'd be there soon to help. That was an hour ago. Calleigh tried calling her again but Natalia rushed her off the phone, saying she'd be back soon. So, they just had to accept that.

When Ryan had finished up he threw away his gloves, hung up the lab coat and exited the room. He ran into Frank, who did not look at all happy. "Whoa, Frank, what's with the rush?"

"I've been waiting for you to come and interrogate this guy for the last half hour. I can't hold him forever Ryan, now you know that." Frank said, very angry. Ryan frowned. "Well I told you I was busy. I couldn't just drop evidence. You know we can't do that." He told him. He started walking with Frank following behind him, huffing in anger.

"You could've made an attempt to hurry, Ryan. I shouldn't have had to come find you."

"Then you should've stayed where you were." Ryan retorted as the two had turned a corner.

"Listen here, Ryan. I don't know what's wrong with you, but you can't talk to me any kind of way." Frank told him. He couldn't see Ryan's small smile but he definitely heard his chuckle. That only made him angrier. "Something funny to you?"

"Well you came to me very pissed off and with an attitude but the moment I defend myself it's 'Oh, Ryan, you better watch yourself'." He chuckled again. "Let's not confuse the anger here- you're still upset about this whole 'Rick' thing and you're projecting it at me using this situation. But there's a time and place for that. And it's not here now."

"You know what-."

"Where's the file for this guy?" Ryan interrupted him, turning to Frank. He saw him carrying a manila folder that he hadn't bothered to notice before. Ryan promptly took it out of Frank's hands, said thanks, and continued on without him following. Ryan opened the file just to scan it- to brief himself to refresh his memory over exactly why he was interrogating someone. But to his surprise, he saw a mugshot photo of Dan Cooper. And Ryan, had no idea why he needed to question him.

He had stopped just outside the large glass room. He could see Dan inside, with his arms on the table, his head down and looking dejected in the room. Ryan's mind started racing about what he should do. Should he call Dave? Should he call Rick? In the note, he was specifically told not to have an investigation. Then again, he couldn't be sure that, that was why Dan was brought in. Dan could have stolen a car or robbed someone. But Ryan wouldn't have known anything until he actually read the file.

He cleared his throat as he entered the room. Dan's head rose slowly, and Ryan's eyes widened in disgust. Dan had looked like he'd been through the worst. His right eye was darkened purple, he had scratches and scrapes on his left cheek. His whole face was a deep red and swollen. His nose was bleeding, and Ryan might have even thought it was broken. He wondered if Dan had gotten medical attention before being brought it.

Ryan sat down and opened the file again. Dan was quiet. Ryan was quiet because he was reading. His file said he had been picked up on 'suspicion'. _Suspicion of what?_

"So, Dan. What brings you here?" Ryan asked him.

Dan made an almost inhuman noise and rolled his eyes. "You tell me."

"Well, you were brought in here for suspicion…" Ryan trailed, hoping Dan would pick up on whatever Ryan was missing. But it turned out Dan had no idea either. "Suspicion of what?"

"The arresting officer tells you that when they detain you so don't act like you don't know." Ryan said.

Dan's eyebrows furrowed like he was angry. "He said I looked suspicious. That's all he said."

"Who?"

"The cop. I don't know his name." Dan said. "He took one look at me, asked how I got this way and then arrested me. He said I was suspicious and that was it."

Ryan had a hard time believing that. It was a known fact that when someone was arrested, they were made aware of exactly what they were being arrested for. They had to be told. Or else that was against the law and the suspect couldn't be held any longer. Ryan opened the file again and reread the sentence over and over again, trying to make some sense of it.

"So, let me get this straight; an officer approached you, asked you what was up with your face, and then told you that you were suspicious and then arrested you? Is that correct?" Ryan asked him. Dan looked at Ryan as if he was asking the dumbest question in the world.

"Yes, that's what I just said."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know."

"So, what did happen to your face?"

Dan slammed his hands down on the desk. "It's your fault!"

"My fault?"

"I told you I didn't know anything about Horatio!" He all but screamed at Ryan. "I told you I was just paid to follow simple orders. But you had Rick try to beat the answers out of me even though I told you I knew nothing. And now because of that, I'm in big trouble. He showed up to my place this morning and told me he knew that I had given him up. He said that now I was as good as dead."

"So the guy that paid you to take Horatio beat you up?"

"Yes!"

"Did he say anything about where Horatio was?" Ryan asked.

Dan gaped and made a few noises as if he were gasping for air, but Ryan knew that he wasn't. He was struggling to speak because he couldn't find the right words. "Did you hear what I just said? I could be killed, Ryan. I will be killed."

"And so could Horatio. And right now, he is my priority. Not you." Ryan observed Dan's face again. Really, it looked horrible. It looked worse than those times Ryan himself had been beaten up. "Do you want any ice or anything?"

"No."

"Okay. Well, did he say anything else? Like, is he coming back? Is something else going to happen?"

Both of them heard knocking outside. Ryan looked up and saw a disheveled looking Natalia standing there. She was pointing inside, asking if she could come inside. Ryan nodded, and she entered. Her hair was large and a mess like the wind had blown it all over. She sat down next to Ryan and when she saw Dan, she pretty much had the same reaction as Ryan had.

"Geeze, what happened? Do you want any ice?"

Dan glared at Natalia. He shook his head.

"So, I was just interrogating Dan here, for-"

"Suspicion- I got it." Natalia nodded, shedding her jacket.

"I, wait, you know?"

"Of course. I'm the one who called him in." Natalia took the file and stood back up. "So, Dan, why don't you tell me what I need to know? It'll make this process go by a lot quicker."

Ryan was at a loss for words for the first time, in probably forever. He was sure he looked like a deer caught in headlights. Dan on the other hand looked pissed. More pissed than Ryan had seen before. Natalia, though, looked determined and stoic. She looked very confident, as well.

Since Dan suddenly wasn't talking, Natalia decided to keep going. "Why don't you tell me about the postcards, Dan."

"Postcards?" Ryan questioned, very confused. He hadn't heard anything about postcards.

"Yeah. Tell him, Dan. Maybe I will since you're being so quiet." Natalia answered. "People in the lab have been receiving postcards from Horatio. It started with Eric getting one. Seemed normal enough. Our lieutenant was on vacation and he just thought that he was being nice and thought of him. Then, Calleigh got one. Not strange, but the note was. Horatio signed it 'see you soon'. But soon, hasn't quite come yet. Valera and Walter both got one. Theirs was signed 'closer'. What does 'closer' mean, Dan?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Natalia nodded. "Mhm, interesting. Considering your DNA was on the postcards. I ran a test on them." Natalia turned to Ryan. "You're not the only one doing secret investigations, Ryan."

"Natalia, what's-?" Ryan had started. He was so confused, but she cut him off and continued. Natalia got right into Dan's face. "And then I got a postcard. And you know how mine's was signed? 'Bye'. It said 'bye'. Now, why on earth would Horatio say goodbye to me when he's on vacation and supposed to be coming back? None of this made sense so I tested them all for DNA and yours was on it Dan. You didn't even bother to use gloves. So, where is Horatio? And what do these cryptic messages mean?"

Ryan and Natalia both waited for him to say something. He had a hard look. He looked angry again. His eyes were wide and glued on Natalia. Ryan wondered what was going through his mind. And he wondered where Natalia was going with this.

"Like I told Ryan, I don't know anything about where he is. I was paid to follow orders and that was it. Anything that happens to Horatio now is out of my reach." Dan answered.

"See, I just have a hard time believing you. Don't you, Ryan?"

"Uh, yeah." He said, still skeptical about the whole thing.

"I'm telling the truth. I sent out the cards, I admit it but I don't know where Horatio is or what's going to happen to him."

Natalia furrowed her eyebrows together and formed a small smile. "I don't think you realize how serious this is Dan. We have enough evidence here to book you right now. And we will. So just give it up- tell us where Horatio is and you might get a lighter sentence."

Dan was quiet again.

He breathed out harshly, and then looked from Ryan, to Natalia and then finally back to Ryan. With a very smug look on his face, he leaned back into his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

"He's already dead."


	16. Appointment

Sixteen:

No one moved.

They all just stood in shock.

Everyone was now crowded around the lab, looking.

They all watched as Dan was being arrested. Some of them looked almost as shocked as Ryan did. Others had tears in their eyes. But they were all upset. A few people, despite ignoring him like the plague earlier, came to Ryan and gave him small hugs and pats on the back. They were all sad.

Even in cuffs, Dan continued to curse and to scream out in great detail how he personally murdered Horatio. People looked at Dan in disgust and hatred. They looked at Ryan with sadness.

Natalia was in just as much shock. She couldn't even get out a full sentence. It came out as stutters, and finally she said "sorry, Ryan" as she rushed out of the room.

Valera and Walter stood together, watching as Dan got arrested. She looked sad while Walter looked pissed.

Eric just kept shaking his head, and he eventually disappeared.

Calleigh was so upset. She couldn't contain her tears as she chased after Eric. First, she had to stop him from attacking Dan, telling Eric she didn't want him to get arrested, too. And now Eric had run off.

Dave and Rick were next to each other. When Dave would look at Ryan, he looked concerned. And when Rick would look at Ryan, he seemed confused. As if what was happening wasn't clear enough.

Ryan couldn't stand the looks of sadness any longer. He left the area and made his way toward the break room. He could hear Calleigh's voice coming from inside. She was speaking to Eric, but her voice kept cracking with every other word she said. Ryan couldn't hear Eric. He didn't think he was speaking, though. When Calleigh saw Ryan, even more tears formed in her eyes. She walked away from Eric sitting, to Ryan by the door. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She sniffled into Ryan's shirt. "Are you okay, Ryan?" She asked him.

Ryan nodded, but he didn't say anything. Calleigh released Ryan, and looked at Eric. She shot him a look. Eric rolled his eyes, stood and approached Ryan. "We're here for you, Wolfe."

Ryan nodded again. "I'll keep that in mind."

Eric pat Ryan on the back a few times, then he took Calleigh's hand and they left the break room together. Ryan waited a few more moments, because he knew that like clockwork, Dave and Rick would be entering the room soon.

When Dave and Rick finally made their way into the room, Ryan was surprised to feel someone with their arms around him. He froze in his spot, as he wasn't used to being hugged from behind from anyone other than Horatio. And it certainly had been a long time since he'd been hugged like that from Dave. Ryan put his hand over Dave's and pat it lightly. "Okay, you can let go now, Dave."

"I just can't believe it. I'm so sorry, Ryan."

"Why?"

"Why?" Dave questioned as he let go. "Because of Horatio."

"Horatio's not dead." Ryan said.

Rick and Dave exchanged worried glances. Ryan went and poured himself a cup of coffee as they talked quietly to themselves. They probably thought Ryan was crazy or losing it.

Rick slowly approached Ryan as if he were afraid of alarming him. "Ryan, I know it's hard to accept it but Dan admitted to it. He said-."

Ryan chuckled. "I'm not stupid. I'm not deaf. Nor am I crazy, so you can stop treading and acting like it. I know what Dan said. He said that Horatio was dead. But he's not dead."

Dave ran his fingers through his long hair. "And you know this for a fact?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Ryan sighed and shrugged. "I just know, Dave. When Rick and I went to 'interrogate' Dan, he stated very clearly that he didn't know where Horatio was. And I believe that. Didn't you see his face? He didn't do that to himself. He said he was working with someone and that someone is pissed at him. And worked him over good, if you ask me."

Rick widened his eyes as he realized. "He either confessed to get away from this guy or to get the heat off of him."

"Once in prison, he'll get praised for killing Horatio Caine." Ryan answered. "He's more safe in there than he is out here. Could Horatio be hurt? Yes. Could he be in danger, still? Probably. But he's not dead."

Dave sat down in the chair Eric originally was. He nodded as he grabbed Ryan's cup of coffee and drank from it. "That's pretty smart actually. But now what? He was our only lead, right? We can't exactly question a guy in prison."

Ryan took his cup back from Dave. "Not true. We still have someone else to question. Right, Rick?"

Rick was taken aback. He looked around before answering. "I can finally talk to her?"

"I want you to question her until she breaks. And don't hold back."

Rick nodded. "I'm on it." He left the break room and Dave and Ryan heard his hurried footsteps descending away. Dave seemed to finally catch on with who they meant. He furrowed his eyebrows together. "Are you sure it's okay?"

Ryan shrugged. "Who knows anymore? I'm just kind of winging it, these days. Anyways, I gotta go."

"Oh, where?"

"I have a doctor's appointment."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Ryan thought for a moment. He shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. Besides, I gotta get home as soon as possible, and you're a slow driver. Rick's niece is watching Alana at my house. But maybe we can get together later. I haven't had time to just hang out with someone in a while."

"Sounds good. See ya, Ryan."

Ryan touched Dave's shoulder lightly and gave him a soft smile. He left the room and walked down the halls. He passed Rick walking by with the receptionist, who looked pretty scared. She and Ryan made eye contact briefly. Ryan didn't look at her too long. He couldn't waste any time. He had to get to the doctor's office, and it was so far away. He didn't want to be late.

~

"Okay, Ryan." The doctor said, as he put hand sanitizer on, yet again. "Everything seems to be okay. But we're going to do a test for amniocentesis."

"What is that? Is it bad?" Ryan asked, obviously a little panicked.

The doctor shook his head and put his hand on Ryan's shoulder to try to reassure him. "I will be taking a small sample of the amniotic fluid to do a test."

"But why? We didn't do that when I had Alana." Ryan stated.

The doctor nodded this time. "The test is designed to diagnose birth defects."

Ryan gaped. He put his hand over his stomach. "So, something is wrong."

"There was a slight problem with your ultrasound." The doctor said. "But we can run this test- it's really simple- and we can find out exactly what the problem is. Is that okay with you?"

"I don't think I have any other choice." Ryan answered.

"Okay, so we'll get started on that and I'll have the results for you in 2 to 3 weeks."

"But that's so long."

The doctor sighed. "I can try to rush them for you. That's the best I can do. I'm sorry, Mr. Wolfe."

Ryan nodded. It was definitely times like this where he really wanted Horatio with him. Internally, and probably externally too, he was freaking out. Ryan didn't know what he'd do if there was something wrong. Of course, he wouldn't love his baby any less if he or she did have a birth defect. But it did scare him to know that there was something wrong and he couldn't do a think to fix it. And of course, that it took so long afterwards to get the results.

The doctor had Ryan lay flat on his back and he placed something that looked like tissue over his stomach, but keeping Ryan's bellybutton exposed. The doctor then wiped Ryan's stomach, as he had done during his first ultrasound. Ryan was jittery and shaking, and all he wanted was Horatio to be next to him. The doctor put a transducer- something or other on his stomach that was hooked to the ultrasound machine. He began moving the probe-like thing over Ryan's stomach.

"Okay, like this I can see the baby's position. I'm going to stick this needle inside now and collect the fluid." The doctor told Ryan. Ryan was very nervous about the needle. He's never really been afraid of them, per say, but he definitely didn't like the look of it. It was long, skinny and silver and the sight of it made Ryan nervous.

The whole process took a little less than thirty minutes. When it was finished, Ryan wiped the antibacterial goop from his stomach, put his shirt back on and was ready to leave before the doctor stopped him. "Mr. Wolfe, I just want to reassure you of this test. I'm not saying that there is something wrong, just that there was abnormalities detected. Do you understand?"

Ryan nodded. He wasn't stupid, he heard what the doctor said. He also knew that he was just trying to reassure him, but Ryan didn't want to hear anything right now, other than 'everything's okay'. And now he had to wait at least 2 weeks for the test results.

Though when he got home, he did feel a sense of happiness. He couldn't find Alana at first, but he could hear her happy squeals. He looked out of the window facing the backyard to find Alana and Jasmine running around with Domino chasing one, then the other. They all looked pretty happy. Ryan was grateful that Jasmine was able to come over to babysit on such short notice.

When the girls came inside, Alana hugged Ryan and began to tell him about her day. Jasmine stood next to Domino but she didn't look happy. She actually looked scared. She had her arms crossed very defensively. "Alana, why don't you go wash up a little? Your clothes are grass-stained."

Alana looked down to her jeans that had brown dirt and green grass smeared on them. She nodded and went on her way. As soon as she was out of earshot, Jasmine sat next to Ryan. "Mr. Wolfe, a woman came over today."

"A woman?"

"Yeah, while you were at the doctor's." Jasmine whispered. "When I answered the door, she said that you called her to come over to watch Alana instead of me. But when I told her I was going to call you to make sure, she got so mad. She started screaming at me to let her in, but I shut the door and locked it. I tried calling Rick but his secretary said he was busy. And your phone kept disconnecting."

"Can you describe the girl? Was she tan? Tall? Dark hair?"

Jasmine nodded. "Yeah, all of that. She had brown eyes, I think. Maybe hazel. I wasn't sure if I should call the police or not. But I didn't want to scare Alana."

"No, you did fine, Jasmine."

"She did say something else though. She said 'tomorrow, everyone will know'."

Ryan nodded. He sighed. "I'm going to take you home when Rick is off of work, okay?" Originally, Jasmine was going to walk to her friends house, who apparently didn't live too far from Ryan and Horatio's home. But Ryan didn't want her to walk anywhere.

Jasmine nodded, in time for Alana to come rushing into the room. She was wearing a pair of blue cotton shorts and a pink princess shirt. And she looked pretty happy. "I'm going to feed Domino now." She announced. Ryan and Jasmine both just watched her do it. They really weren't sure about what to say. So they just watched.

When Ryan dropped Jasmine off back at Rick's home, he spoke to Rick. He told Ryan that he talked to their receptionist, but it was a dead end. He said he knew she was hiding something, but since they had nothing on her, it wasn't like he could keep questioning her. So he asked Ryan to try.


	17. Confrontation

Seventeen:

"But I didn't do anything!" She yelled.

She glanced at Eric, then at Ryan.

They had been questioning her for an hour now, and they weren't getting anywhere. The receptionist looked like a wreck. Her eyes were red from crying. Her makeup was ruined. She had black smudges from running eyeliner and mascara on her cheeks. Her lipstick was smeared from her constantly rubbing her own face. Her hair was sticking up in areas that he had started to pull at.

Really, Ryan and Eric thought that she was having a mental breakdown. They were worried about pushing her too far. But they needed answers.

"Do you want your lawyer here?" Eric asked, yet again. He asked multiple times but she kept saying no, she didn't need a lawyer. She said that she could prove her own innocence.

"No. A lawyer means I'm trying to cover my own tracks. But I don't need to do that. I did nothing wrong."

Eric and Ryan glanced at each other. Ryan opened up her file again and read it over yet again. "We just have overwhelming evidence against you. You disappear every time something bad happens, then reappear when it's over. The surveillance tapes were messed with, and your fingerprints were discovered in the surveillance room."

Eric nodded. "We had to look hard for those prints. You used gloves, but you must have forgotten something. Or maybe you wiped the prints and missed a few. Which is it?"

She started frantically shaking her head. "I only went in the surveillance room once!" She exclaimed. "I went in because I thought I heard screaming."

"Screaming?"

"Yeah. Right after Dan was arrested and he said that Horatio was dead. I heard someone screaming, and I thought it was just someone emotional over Horatio. So I followed the screaming and I went into the room but I didn't see anyone there. The screaming stopped immediately, and so I left." She said. She had to stop and breathe a few times. She was speaking so fast, Ryan thought she may pass out from the lack of air.

Eric started writing. "So this screaming; did it sound like a man? Or maybe a woman?"

"A woman. But I didn't see who it was."

"And it had to have been someone in this office, since there weren't any sign-ins of anyone else." Ryan said to Eric, but she was still able to hear.

Eric frowned a little. Then he stood up, telling Ryan he'd be right back. Ryan watched him leave while she put her head down and sobbed into her arms.

When Eric closed the door again, Ryan and the officer outside made eye contact. "You tried to tell me something." Ryan said. "I think you've tried a few times. What is it?"

Her head rose from the desk. She was no longer crying. She wiped her face as she looked around, probably seeing if Eric was coming back. "I know what's going on. I may be a receptionist, but I know it all. I know more than you. I've been trying to tell you for the longest time now but I couldn't- there's cameras everywhere here, and it's not like I know where you live either. If I said anything here, they'd know, and I'd be involved too. I don't want to be killed."

Ryan nodded. Clearly, he was listening. "Whoever did this showed up to my house yesterday."

"Then check the security tapes. Rick was questioning me. I've been here, and he and I were one of the last ones to leave besides the officers. Whoever left right before you did, is your person of interest." She said. Eric appeared at the door again, opening it. The moment he did, the waterworks came again. She started bawling.

Eric signaled for Ryan to follow him outside of the room. Ryan did, shutting the door behind him.

"What's up?"

"Something's not right, Wolfe." Eric said. "I don't think she's involved. We all got postcards that Dan sent, except her. No criminal is dumb enough to make sure everyone at the lab got a card except themselves. I think someone is trying to set her up. And someone screamed, knowing it'd get her attention, but then it stops the moment she enters the surveillance room? You told me that Dan said that she doesn't know anything about this, and I believe it."

Ryan agreed. "I don't think she's done anything wrong. I think she just got caught up in this whole thing accidentally. But Eric, I don't think she's going to say anything with you in there. Right after you left she started telling me what was going on."

Eric nodded. "Really? Should I go?"

"Just leave out of eyesight, but stay in the area. Just in case."

"Got it." Eric started off, glancing back at her again. She was still crying. Ryan went back into the room. She started wiping her face again. She shook her head. "He can't know. If anything I say leaves this room, I'll be killed. I don't want to die. Promise me you won't say anything to him."

Ryan shook his head. "I can't make that promise." He answered. "I have to tell him especially since lives are in danger. But I can say that you will not die."

She hesitated but she nodded. She sighed. "So, a few days before Natalia's birthday, I saw Dan. He was here. He was wearing sunglasses but I could tell it was him. Same voice, you know. He didn't come inside though. I saw him in the parking lot, hiding behind some cars so the cameras wouldn't pick him up. Then I saw Natalia. She left the building, looked around then got into her car. When she did that, he came up by the passenger side and got in too. I thought he was about to attack her so I approached her car to see if she needed any help."

Ryan nodded, to show he was listening.

"Natalia told me to get into the car. I couldn't tell for sure but I thought Dan had a gun, so I did. And then she drove to some abandoned house. She started screaming at me saying that if I told anyone that Dan was there, she'd kill me. Then she dropped me off on the side of the road. I had to call a cab to take me back to the lab. Then the day of her party, I saw Dan again. He came inside this time. He didn't sign in, just winked at me and walked right by the desk. I saw him carrying a notebook, but I don't know what for. He went into Horatio's office for a while, maybe 15 minutes. Then when he came back, he was walking with Horatio. Horatio was in front of him, Dan had something sticking into his back- I think it was a gun. I have no idea what happened to the security videos, though."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I was afraid! I don't want to die, I have kids. And you were never alone. Every time I looked up you were with Dan and Rick. And I was told that I will die along with anyone else I told."

Ryan looked around again. He saw Eric walk by, trying not to look inconspicuous. "Okay, anything else?"

She thought for a moment. "I kept trying to tell you it was Natalia without actually saying anything. The day Dan was brought in, I remember Natalia called in saying she had an accident so she would be late coming back. But right before she left out, I heard her in the bathroom on the phone. She was screaming at someone like 'how could you let this happen'. I don't know who she was talking to. But then she came in, Dan was bruised and she automatically knew more about the case than you guys did. I only know because I overheard when I walked by the room. Dan was terrified when he saw Natalia. I saw her hands, they were bruised- I think she beat him up herself. And I went outside, and I saw her car; not a scratch on it and her spare tire was still attached to the back."

Ryan glanced at the officer, who was staring at them.

"But I'm more worried about today. Natalia came up to me yesterday and told me that she talked to management about me. She said she knew I had a doctors appointment for today so she got me the afternoon off since I was 'so helpful'. I don't have an appointment today. I think somethings up. I don't know why she wants me gone, though."

He stood up. "Don't go home. Go to a relative's or someone's house. Just don't go home. I'll have an officer escort you."

"What about you guys? Will you be okay?"

"We'll be fine." Ryan opened the door in time to see Eric circling around again. "besides, I already knew it was her."

"You did?"

"Yeah well, I had a feeling for a few days now. And you just confirmed it. Go."

She only nodded, wiped her face again and approached an officer. She spoke to him for a little while, then he started walking with her.

Eric seemed confused. He didn't say anything until she was out of eyesight, and on the elevators. "You're letting her go?"

"Yes, and we may have to get everyone out of the lab. Everyone except Natalia."

"What? Wolfe-."

"Go tell Calleigh and Walter they need to go out on a case somewhere. Tell Valera she is needed at the lab downtown. And I'll work on getting the others out. Just make sure Natalia is not in the loop. She stays."

Eric still looked confused. But the way his eyes were, Ryan thought that maybe he was starting to understand. He nodded and then took off. Ryan immediately went to the officer that was standing by them. He knew he probably heard the gist of everything, but Ryan wanted to make sure. He told him that they thought something was going to happen today and they needed to make sure all the officers available were on high alert. As Ryan talked to him, the officer waved at 2 others who also came over and listened to what Ryan was saying. "Don't look suspicious. Look like you're just going about your regular day." Ryan instructed.

He heard Calleigh and Walter walking by, talking to each other. Walter was upset that he had to stop his lunch break earlier than usual to go out on a call. Calleigh was chuckling and pointing out that they had to drive over an hour just to get out there. Walter groaned and they both got into the elevator together.

Ryan left the officers, and walked down the halls. He saw Valera and Natalia in a room together. Natalia was looking at some photos, while Valera was speaking to Eric. She looked upset and a little confused. When she saw Ryan, she called out to him. "Ryan, did the downtown office really call me in? Or is Eric just playing a stupid joke on me again?"

 _Again?_ Ryan thought. He hadn't heard of that. Eric gave a small smile which indicated that yes, he has done that before.

Ryan nodded. "They did actually call for you, Valera. I guess a few people called off and they're extremely backed up. So they asked for our best DNA analyst so we said you."

Valera sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Well, I am the best. Alright, let me put this stuff away."

Natalia shook her head. "Oh, no, Valera I can handle it. Really. You just go."

Valera nodded and agreed. She put her lab coat away and exited the room. Eric approached Natalia, who had gone back to looking at the pictures. But the whole time he looked at Ryan with wonder, as if he were asking what to do next. But he just shrugged. "Need any help? I'm not doing anything."

Natalia smiled. "That would be great, thanks. Do you want to help, Ryan?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, actually I have to go interrogate someone."

"Oh, good luck." Natalia told him.

Ryan left the room and made his way to the audio/visual part of the lab. He saw Dave inside, watching something on the screen. Ryan quickly noticed it was surveillance footage. When he saw Ryan, he paused the tape. "I was just about to call you." He said. "Eric came to me and told me to check the tapes for our receptionist so that's what I'm doing. Doesn't this count as an investigation?"

"It definitely does but we're past the point of no return. Might as well keep going. What have you seen?"

"Well, so far I saw the tapes from when Dan was arrested. She runs into the security room for a few seconds and then comes out. She then looks around but then she just leaves. If she had been doing something to mess with the tapes, she would've had to have been in there for at least five minutes, not five seconds." Dave told him. Then Dave turned back to the screen and started rewinding it.

"Okay and look here. See- right after you leave, she goes and sits down at her desk. But then Natalia approaches her. They talk for a little while. Then Natalia leaves." Dave said. Sure enough, that was exactly what was happening. Dave stopped the tape again. "Then on the next tape, Natalia comes back into the lab like she never left. Then she goes into the surveillance room, and there's a small gap on the screen- maybe only 2 minutes. I think she tried to erase it but maybe she messed up or someone was coming. Either way she couldn't finish it."

Ryan nodded. "Right thanks, Dave. I have to leave for a little while. I know the note said Alana was next so I want to take her to my parents house. But I'll be right back. Keep your eyes peeled, and please make sure Rick knows everything, too."

Dave stood up. "Got it. I'll go tell him right now."

They both left together and got onto the elevator together. Ryan got off, leaving Dave alone to go up to IAB. As Ryan walked through the parking lot, his phone started ringing. He checked it and saw it was Kyle calling him. He answered the phone and was met with a slightly panicked voice. "Ryan, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"These two guys just showed up to my house asking if I was 'Kyle Harmony'. They got my name wrong and they looked suspicious so I told them no." Kyle said. "They left but they came right back, parked in my driveway and have been there for the last 30 minutes. Should I call the police? Does this have anything to do with dad being undercover?"

Ryan stopped walking for a second. The notes never once mentioned Kyle being in harm's way. But since the whole lab, Alana and Ryan were it made sense that Kyle was, too. Ryan was upset with himself for not even taking that into consideration. He sighed. "Okay, Kyle just stay inside. Make sure the doors and everything's locked. I'll come over. Do you have a backdoor?"

"Yeah, and if you take the backroads you can end up next to my house actually."

"Alright I'm on my way. Don't open the door for anyone and come out when I call."

"Okay, Ryan." And he hung up.

And now Ryan was in a dilemma. He was on his way to go get Alana from daycare to take her to his parents. Now Kyle was in immediate danger. Ryan didn't like this situation at all. He chose to drive to Kyle first. He didn't live too far from the lab, and it was maybe a ten minute drive.

Ryan drove past the house, and sure enough there was a car parked in Kyle's driveway. The car wasn't running but whoever was inside was definitely waiting for Kyle to come outside. Ryan was sure Kyle was terrified. He would've been terrified, too, if he were in the same situation. Ryan drove around toward a different side street. He kept his eyes peeled for any cars idle, just in case there were more people anticipating him going out the back.

As Ryan got close, he pulled out his phone and called Kyle, who answered on the second ring. "Ryan?"

"I'm parked right outside. Come through the back but be quiet."

Kyle said okay and started walking out of the house. He kept his phone on, pressed up to his ear just in case. Ryan couldn't see from where his car was. But he knew the layout of Kyle's yard. There was a house next door, but it was a little while away. And there were no trees or bushes or anything in between. No gates or fences. The yards were connected. So when Kyle had to go across, he had to actually go by his driveway, which would then make him completely visible.

Ryan got out of his car, and walked slowly towards Kyle's neighbor's house. He could see Kyle poke his head out of the back door. He looked around for a little while and then slowly shut the door behind himself. He put the key into the hole and locked it. Then he started to slowly walk toward Ryan. He stopped when he got to the end of his house, where the driveway was. Kyle seemed extremely nervous, as Ryan thought he should.

Ryan was unsure of what the next plan of action was. But he knew that Kyle needed to get across. "Run. Now." Ryan said.

And so, Kyle did. He darted across the yard and even past Ryan. He went straight for Ryan's car. Ryan could heard a car starting up, he was sure it was the people in the driveway. He ran too, got into his car and peeled off as fast as he could. Ryan didn't go through the same way he came from. That would have just been stupid. He drove down a longer road, and made a quick turn left into a driveway. Kyle wondered what he was doing, but Ryan turned his car off and told Kyle to get down. Kyle immediately dropped down unsure of what was going on. A few seconds later, Ryan saw the car drive right past them.

Kyle slowly raised himself back up and then sighed. He thought about asking Ryan if he knew anything about this. But of course he did. So Kyle kept his mouth shut and let Ryan keep driving. While they were, Ryan announced that he needed to go pick up Alana and he was taking them to his parents house. After that, he said he was going back to the lab and would get them when he could. Kyle seemed, scared and he had every right to be. Ryan felt bad that Kyle was in this situation. But he would do anything he could to keep Kyle safe.

Alana was excited to be picked up from preschool earlier than usual. She was even more excited when she saw her older brother Kyle with Ryan. She immediately started going on and on about how happy she was to see him and how much fun they were going to have. And then when Ryan told her that they were going to her grandparents house, she got even more excited and exclaimed that she got ice cream every time she went over there.

Just as Ryan pulled back into the lab parking lot, he checked his phone and saw that Eric had just texted him.

_**Nat is asking when everyone is coming back. What do I do?** _

And Ryan just sighed and put his phone back into his pocket. He entered the building by elevator and went straight up to IAB.

The floor was pretty quiet. But he could hear Rick and Dave's voices. He had no idea what they were talking about, but he heard them. Even the secretary was gone. Ryan went right for Rick's office. He saw Rick pacing back and forth while Dave sat on top of Rick's desk. When they saw Ryan, Rick went right for him, taking his hand but quickly dropping it.

"Everything alright? Dave told me about Natalia." Rick questioned.

Ryan nodded, putting his arms closer to his sides. "I'm fine. But I had a few issues with Kyle; some people came over to his house. So I had to go over there and take him to my parents house." Ryan told them. Then he looked to Dave. "What are you still doing here anyways? I thought you would've left by now."

"Yeah, well I was going to actually." Dave replied. "But I figured if something happens today, Natalia might try to mess the with surveillance tapes again. I thought I should be here in case that happens. I attached a backup."

"Good thinking. I'm going to go back downstairs. Eric told me that she's getting suspicious about where everybody is." Ryan started, but he noticed Rick was walking with him. Ryan thought about asking why Rick was following him. But he quickly realized it. 'Backup' or 'protection'. Both men got onto the elevators together and rode in silence. Ryan noticed Rick kept glancing at him, but he never said anything.

Ryan almost wanted to break the awkward silence but he knew that anything he said would have just added to it. When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, they both saw Eric standing there. When Eric saw Rick, he glared at him, even sending a look to Ryan. But Eric didn't comment on the two being together. Instead Eric approached Ryan and dropped his voice down to a whisper.

"Natalia is asking about when Calleigh and Walter are coming back. She even called Valera and told her she left her I.D and credit card here. When I asked where it was, Natalia said 'oh, I must've misplaced it'." Eric told him.

"Have you heard from Calleigh and Walter?"

"Yeah, she called pretty upset that the place I sent her to was bogus so I told her I wrote the wrong address down. So I gave her the 'right' one- about another hour away."

Rick jumped into the conversation, "What are you doing out here? You should be with Natalia; you know, watching her so she doesn't blow up the lab or something."

"Hey, I'm not a babysitter, Stetler."

"Oh so you'd rather put the lab in danger than to watch a girl for thirty minutes?"

Eric was getting pissed. But it never did take a lot to rile him up. "Why don't you go watch her?"

"Because if I went, it'd be suspicious. She doesn't like me."

"No one does." Eric answered.

Ryan felt compelled to be the voice-of-reason, just this once. "Guys, stop. Now is not the time for pettiness. Eric, Rick is right- you should be in there watching her." He said. "And Rick, Eric has been doing great. Don't only comment on the negative when there's so much more that's positive."

Rick shook his head while Eric crossed his arms. Seriously, Ryan felt like he was dealing with a couple of middle school kids. "Eric, you go talk to the officers, please, and make sure they're all filled in on what's going on. Rick will go talk to the other employees and I'll go sit with Natalia."

Eric nodded and he was on his way. Rick started walking along with Ryan again. "Do you really think Natalia would be bold enough to try anything with all of these officers here?" Ryan looked around. Not a ton of police officers were here today. Of course Natalia chose this day- the day where most of the officers had meetings in another office. When the officers had meetings, they usually shut the lab down. No one comes in for visitation. And no one leaves unless they're going out on the field or going home.

"Who knows? She's apparently capable of a lot of things."

Rick agreed and walked off away from Ryan toward a woman making copies at the copy machine. Rick spoke to her in a hushed tone. Ryan couldn't hear what was said, but the woman immediately grabbed her purse and darted to the elevators.

_We're warning people, Rick. Not terrifying them._

Ryan found Natalia in the breakroom. She had her back facing the door. She held something in her hands and he could hear her mumbling something. Initially Ryan assumed she was on the phone. But when he stepped closer he realized that she wasn't. Natalia was talking to herself and she seemed angry. "Natalia?"

She spun around, revealing a cup in her hands. The liquid in the cup spilled a little. But she was smiling. "Oh, hey Ryan. Where'd you run off to?"

"A bit of a problem at Alana's preschool."

Natalia seemed to smile even more when he said that. "Really; what happened?"

He decided to ignore her smile. "She got sick. I had to pick her up."

Natalia's face seemed to fall. "So, she's not there anymore?"

"Nope."

"I see." She took a sip of her drink. "Well where is she? Hopefully not contagious so she won't spread it around." She chuckled. Ryan also laughed and nodded. "I sent her to Kyle's house. But Kyle just called and told me that he took her to a friends house with him."

Natalia took another drink and sat down in a chair. "Interesting. What friend? I remember when Kyle didn't have many friends, or too much of anything, really."

Ryan crossed his arms. "Yeah, it's amazing that's changed. But you don't know this friend."

"Right. Have you had lunch yet? I'm getting hungry; you wanna go together?"

Ryan shook his head. "I ate already, actually. But you go ahead."

Natalia put her cup down. She shrugged and then smiled again. "Nah, I can wait, actually. I was just worried since you're eating for two now. You've gotten _so_ big."

Ryan hadn't explicitly come out and announced that he was pregnant. But since he had told Eric he was sure it'd get around. Not to mention his growing baby bump. It amazed Ryan, really. He was only about 2 months pregnant and his stomach was already getting bigger. He already had morning sickness and weird cravings. It didn't happen this fast when he had Alana. Of course, that didn't mean that Natalia had to put so much emphasis on pointing out Ryan's baby bump. "Oh, don't worry, I've eaten enough. But I'm worried about you, too."

"Me? Why?"

"You look so.." Ryan paused, trying to find the right word. "Fatigued. Tired. _Beatdown_. What's going on with you?

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Right. You know, I never got a straight answer out of you- how did you know about Dan? Remember you told me you were the one who called him in and got him arrested; but how? Were you in the same place together? Did you somehow figure out I was investigating him?" Ryan asked her.

Natalia started scooting her cup back and forth, the liquid spilling from the top each time she did so. "I remember you were acting strange, having your own investigation. So I just followed up on it."

Ryan nodded but he frowned. "I get that, but how? Did you follow me? Or maybe overhear me talking about it?"

"I heard you talking about it with Rick. And when my car broke down I saw Dan acting suspicious."

"When did you hear me?"

Natalia chuckled. "What is this; an interrogation?"

Ryan also laughed. He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "No, no I'm just curious. You've always been smart," he told her. "But not this smart. I mean what are the odds that you overheard me talking about Dan, your car breaking down and you're just so happening to see him acting 'suspicious'? Oh and the fact that you were already up to speed about what was happening before I even knew?" Ryan laughed again. "Really, what are the odds?"

Natalia still smiled but it was smaller. "What are you saying, Ryan?"

"I'm just saying it's a little weird, right? And the fact that Dan immediately confessed to you without provoking. You also said his DNA was on every postcard, even though I'm sure none of us saw you running these tests. It's like you just knew his DNA would be on them. And how weird is it that everyone got a postcard except our receptionist? You know, we actually thought it was her until we realized that no criminal is stupid enough to not give themselves a postcard. She's obviously being framed." Ryan walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottled water. He opened it and took a long drink as Natalia just sat there, staring at her cup with wide eyes.

"You okay, Nat? You look a little weird."

"I'm just-."

"Oh, and we checked the security tapes." He continued, cutting her off. "She was nowhere near the surveillance room. Well, except once when she heard someone scream. But she was just being a good Samaritan then. Hey, since you've been investigating this, too, apparently, what do you think about all this?"

Natalia took a drink. "I think it's weird. Whoever framed her didn't do a very good job. And Dan said that he was paid to abduct Horatio so the abductor obviously wants him killed, along with everyone close to him."

"Why do you think they want Horatio dead? I could see why Dan would- he got fired. He's still bitter about it. But why does this nameless person who's calling all the shots want him dead?"

"Maybe Horatio just pushed him too far and he wants revenge."

"But Horatio only goes after criminals."

"Maybe he's really innocent and Horatio failed to see that." She answered curtly.

"Our lieutenant never makes a mistake when it comes to that. He protects people, he's helpful and he's smart." Ryan said.

Natalia picked up the paper cup and slammed it hard onto the table, crumpling it and causing the water to spill out everywhere. "Yeah, well, maybe he protected the wrong people."

Ryan didn't comment on the water. He just took another drink from his water bottle and smiled. "I can see you're in a bad mood, so I'll just come back later." He started walking out. He went into the hallways and realized it was pretty quiet. He looked around a little but didn't see anyone. He was worried that Rick had completely evacuated everyone in the building, leaving him alone.

Ryan heard Natalia call after him. He turned to face her and his eyes quickly went low, seeing the shiny object peeking out of her pants pocket. He pretended not the see the small blade and looked her in her eyes, smiling while he did it. "Yeah, Nat?"

Natalia sighed and shook her head. "I'm so sorry for snapping. I've been so stressed lately."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, don't be. It's my fault. I'm just overwhelmed, I," she looked exasperated. She opened her arms. "I just need a hug from my good friend and I'll be alright."

Ryan almost laughed. He was defenseless. He didn't have a gun. In the lab, they didn't just carry their guns. Not unless they were going out on the field. Sure, he might have been stronger than Natalia but he wasn't stronger than a damn knife sticking in his back. Ryan chuckled, sure it sounded nervous because he sure as hell was. He even thought he heard a _ding_ , but he figured that was just his brain playing tricks on him. "Oh, I can't. I think Alana gave me whatever she had. Trust me you don't want to catch it either. You should see a psychiatrist."

Natalia frowned and stepped a little closer to Ryan. "I don't mind. Really."

"Guys?"

Ryan and Natalia both heard Dave's voice. Ryan mentally started cursing; out of all people, Dave was here to the rescue? Where is Eric and Rick? And where are the officers in the building? Ryan looked up and his eyes widened. Natalia turned around to the voice behind her and immediately gasped and backed up, putting her hands in the air. There stood Dave, voice as calm as could be, pointing a gun right at Natalia.

"Dave" she said slowly. "What are you doing? Put the gun down."

Dave shook his head. "I have no idea what the hell I'm doing." He confessed. "But what are you doing?"

Natalia quickly glanced at Ryan. "Ryan, what the hell is going on?"

Ryan had no idea where Dave got a gun. They all kept their weapons locked up safe. He shouldn't have had access to it. Ryan was afraid, knowing Dave could try to shoot and miss Natalia completely and hit him instead.

"Where is everyone?" Ryan asked.

"Rick and Eric started arguing so the officers made them leave the building."

Natalia looked from Ryan, to Dave and then back to Ryan. She breathed out heavily, and in a swift movement, had lifted her leg and kicked Dave's arms. Causing him to drop the gun. She hit him in the face, her fist connecting to his jaw. Dave stumbled and went down to his knees. Natalia was smaller than him but stronger and feisty. Natalia bent and picked up the gun, pointing it at Dave. "Wait, Natalia-" Ryan had started. But Natalia started furiously squeezing the trigger.

Three loud popping noises rang out and Ryan stared completely shocked. Absolutely nothing happened. Natalia hit the button on the side of the gun, causing the magazine to come out. She looked in to see why the bullets weren't firing. As she looked, something came from the left. Something fast and strong and knocked Natalia to the ground. It as a person. An officer. Ryan breathed out a sigh of relief as Dave stood up. He looked incredulous. "She tried to shoot me!"

"Well in all fairness, you did have a gun in her face." Ryan told him.

Dave was still mad. "Yeah, like I'd have a real gun. It's fake. Only makes the noises."

The officer had Natalia on her stomach, putting her hands behind her back and putting handcuffs on her. As he lifted her up off the ground, they heard hurried footsteps approaching. Calleigh and Walter approached, guns drawn and looking shocked to see what had happened. "Dave are you okay?" Walter asked him. Dave nodded. Natalia looked pissed. "Why am I being arrested? Dave pointed a gun at me; I was defending myself."

Calleigh eyed Natalia. "Were you going to stab Ryan?"

"What?"

"It's just that I see a knife in your pocket. I saw you going in to hug him, and Ryan being all defensive but I had no idea why. Now I think I do." Calleigh said. "What the hell is going on here? Where's Eric?"

The officer started taking Natalia away, and speaking into his walkie talkie calling for another officer to come help him out.

Dave nodded. "Oh, he and Rick were arguing so the cops told them knock it off. Then Eric shoved Rick so the officers took them outside. They picked a hell of a time to start a fight."

"You were serious about that?" Ryan asked.

Dave shrugged. Ryan wanted to roll his eyes but he stopped himself.

Walter only shook his head. "I feel like we missed out on a lot." He said. Calleigh, Dave, and Ryan all nodded their heads in agreement.


	18. Horatio

Eighteen

Because of the rules, IAB was required to run a full investigation of the whole lab. It was expected, but still, people didn't like it. First to be questioned was Valera. She of course had no idea what was going on. Walter was next, followed by Calleigh and Eric. Then Ryan was questioned along with Dave. Even Rick was questioned. Naturally he couldn't question himself. As head of IAB, it looked suspicious if he were the one to be investigating the team. No it went higher up than him. The big bosses were now involved.

Natalia was placed in jail. She admitted to knowing about the plot. She admitted to being the one to beat up Dan Cooper and trying to pin the crimes on him along with their receptionist to no avail. But two things she refused to say; who was the mastermind behind all of this and where Horatio Caine really was.

It didn't matter how many times she'd been questioned or who it was she was talking to. She refused to talk. Ultimately, without her confession, that meant that she would be the one to get in the most trouble. They didn't know where Horatio was and what condition he was in. And no one was safe. Not yet at least. They were still investigating, trying to piece together clues on what was going on. But no one could.

Kyle and Alana were still currently staying with Ryan's parents. Ryan still didn't think it was safe for them to be out and about. They didn't know what was going on, and Ryan refused to take any chances. Even Rick had Jasmine sent back to her parents in another state. He didn't want to risk anything happening to his niece.

The people of the lab were on high alert. Every person that spoke to them was a suspect. Work wasn't quite the same without Natalia. And the awkwardness was dense in the air. No one seemed to know how to seem normal anymore. Not with knowing that the woman they had all once called a friend had conspired to kidnapping their lieutenant and attempted murder of all of them. They all wondered what happened to her. What made Natalia snap? They were afraid they'd never know.

"Hey Wolfe," Ryan turned as he heard Eric entering the room. Eric was putting on a pair of gloves. "Need some help? Everyone's out on the field."

Ryan and Eric hadn't talked much in the week that followed Natalia's arrest. Mostly because they still felt weird around each other. But Ryan nodded and said sure. He caught Eric up to speed on the case he was looking at and they both worked in silence for a while.

"So, I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry. About the whole Rick thing. And telling everyone. And outing your pregnancy to them. I was just mad, you know. I didn't-."

Ryan continued working without looking up. "You were upset because you thought I lied to you and was cheating on your friend with his enemy. I get it." Ryan answered, sighing. "I've forgiven you for a lot of things. You've forgiven me. Let's just move on. No bad feelings."

Eric quietly agreed. He handed Ryan a slide to look at under a microscope. Ryan started writing his findings down while Eric had started twiddling his thumbs watching him. Ryan could feel Eric's eyes burning a hole in the side of his face. He stopped writing and finally looked at Eric. "What?"

"Do you think Horatio is still in Miami? Or maybe he's somewhere completely different. Like Rio?"

"Rio? No, I don't think so. It's hard to tell. Maybe he's still in Miami. Or maybe another city. Who knows?" Ryan answered.

Eric nodded as he breathed out harshly. "You know how worried Alexx is? She calls me constantly for updates. She doesn't want to call you though, for fear of bothering you or making you think about it."

"Alexx was always a worrier."

"Well, you're her baby. And Horatio's your boyfriend. Makes him her baby's baby." Eric smiled while Ryan snorted laughing. They were both interrupted by Ryan's cellphone ringing. He chuckled at his mistake, as he meant to turn his volume off before entering the crime lab. But he looked down to the phone number. It wasn't anyone in his contact list. Eric told Ryan to go out of the room to take it if he was worried about Eric eavesdropping. But Ryan didn't care about that.

Ryan looked down to his cell phone again, unsure of who's unknown number was calling him. He would usually ignore it, but something inside of him told him to answer the call. So he did.

"Can I speak to Ryan Wolfe, please?" The man on the other line asked.

"This is him." Ryan answered, a little skeptical. He shot Eric a look, causing the other to come closer to him as if he'd be able to hear the conversation.

"Mr. Wolfe this is Miami-Dade hospital. We have a patient in here by the name of Horatio Caine. He's listed you as his emergency contact. He's pretty banged up."

Ryan almost dropped his phone in disbelief. After months of wonder, he knew where Horatio was. Ryan gaped and Eric saw this. He immediately started asking Ryan if he was okay and what was wrong. Ryan just quickly told the person on the phone he'd be there immediately and hung up. He breathlessly told Eric what happened. "Horatio's at the hospital."

"What? Seriously? You're sure it's not a trap?"

"I don't know but we have to go, Eric!" Ryan exclaimed, taking off his lab coat and gloves. Eric nodded and followed suit. Ryan had ran out of the room first, Eric tried to follow behind him as close as he could. He ran into an officer, and Eric was sure to alert them of the situation. The officer nodded and started speaking into his walkie to tell the others to get to the hospital as well.

Ryan was already in the elevator, waiting impatiently for Eric.

The whole drive, Ryan was a fidgeting mess. His mind was racing- what if Horatio wasn't there and it was just a ploy to get him down there to the hospital? Or what if Horatio was badly injured? He wasn't sure if he could handle being let down. He also thought about Rick and Dave. Both men had been pretty great helping him out since Horatio's disappearance. He thought about sending them both a text to let them know what was happening. But he didn't. He didn't even think he'd be able to text with how much his hands were shaking.

Eric pulled into the parking lot, with police cars right behind them. Ryan shot out of the car, but was immediately stopped by going any further by Eric. "You know they have to go in first to talk to Horatio if he's here." Eric told him. And Ryan knew he was right. But Ryan wanted to be the first person Horatio saw. He wanted Horatio to know that he was there for him. If he was there.

The officers went inside, with Eric and Ryan keeping pace. Eric made Ryan sit down in the waiting room while the officers spoke to a nurse. They couldn't hear what was being said, but the three officers followed her down a hallway. Ryan was nervous. He could tell Eric was feeling nervous, too. Ryan stood and went across the room and sat next to his friend. Neither of them said anything but they didn't have to.

A little more than a half hour had passed when the officers had returned. One of them started talking to a nurse, the other two were speaking to a doctor. The doctor nodded his head and then the officers pointed to Eric and Ryan. The doctor followed their pointing and approached the two men. "Eric Delko and Ryan Wolfe?"

Eric nodded. "Yeah, that's us."

"You both can go into the room now." The doctor told them. "You can't stay long, that's what the officers told me anyways. But I'll give you guys a few minutes."

"So Horatio is here?" Ryan asked.

The doctor nodded, so they both immediately stood and followed him down the hallway. When they made it to the fourth room down, he opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Then he pushed the door open fully to let them in. Both men entered the room and both stopped in their tracks.

There he was.

His eyes were closed.

His breathing seemed harsh and staggered.

He was skinnier.

Horatio had always been average build, but wow, had he lost weight. Like he was being starved, really. He had bandaged wrapped around his chest and a cast on his left arm. His face was purple and blue with bruises, along with his neck and his legs that were visible from the hospital gown. His hair was matted, probably from not washing it.

After just standing there for a while, Horatio slowly opened his eyes. He stared up at the ceiling for a little while. Then slowly, he turned his head so that he was facing the doorway.

"Eric." He said softly. His voice was hoarse. It seemed like he was straining just to say his name.

"H," Eric said, stepping closer to Horatio. "Are you in pain? Hurt?"

"A little. Hurts when I breath. Cracked ribs." Horatio sighed.

Ryan just stared at Horatio. He'd never seen him this way before- hurt, broken and bruised. Ryan wanted to just run over to Horatio and hug him. But he couldn't do that. He looked up and noticed Eric and Horatio both staring at him. Then he realized Horatio had his right hand outstretched to him. "Ryan?" Horatio's hoarse voice asked.

Ryan crossed over to Horatio, even pushing Eric out of the way a little. He took Horatio's hand, and felt him squeeze it as tightly as he could. Horatio smiled a little, and Ryan tried to back. He was so unbelievably happy to see Horatio alive. But not like this. Ryan had so many questions for Horatio but he didn't want to bombard him with them. He was sure the officers had already questioned him enough for now. Ryan opened his mouth just to say something, but Horatio had cut him off. He let go of Ryan's hand and his own hand reached out farther and touched Ryan's stomach. He rested it there for a while. "Pregnant?"

Ryan quickly nodded. "Yeah."

"Good." Horatio hummed a little and closed his eyes again.

Eric had put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. "I'm gonna go talk to the officers- give you some time alone. I'll be outside if you need me."

Ryan nodded as Eric turned to leave, shutting the door behind him. Ryan took the moment to assess the room more. There were machines everywhere, and one seemed to be a heart monitor that had to have been hooked up to Horatio. He just hadn't noticed it. When he looked down to Horatio again, he saw that Horatio had his eyes on him. "How's Kyle and Alana?"

"They're fine. I had to take them to my parents house for safety." Ryan hesitated, wondering if he should bring up the fact that Rick had let him and Alana stay with him. He decided not to. At least not yet anyways.

Horatio slowly nodded his head. He coughed, and wrinkled his face in discomfort. Horatio put his hand over his mouth slowly and then sighed. "Tell them I'm sorry for worrying them."

"You didn't do anything wrong." Ryan answered. "Horatio, I don't think you should be speaking. You should be resting. And I'll wait for you to wake up."

Horatio shook his head. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"How did you get here?"

"I walked."

"You walked?"

"For a little while. I didn't know where I was. I didn't have a phone to call anyone. Then a few teenagers in a car saw me. They stopped and gave me a ride here." Horatio answered as if that were an everyday occurrence. Ryan nodded. He had so many questions for Horatio. But he didn't want to bring them up yet.

"How bad are you hurt?" He asked.

Horatio took Ryan's hand again. "I have some cracked ribs. Broken arm. My legs hurt a little bit. It hurts when I move, breathe and blink." Horatio chuckled. "I'm hungry too. I feel like I'm in dire need of a shower, too."

Ryan used his other hand to touch Horatio's cheek lightly. He didn't want to hurt him, but he really wanted to just touch him. He hadn't seen Horatio in so long. He wanted to hug him tightly and just not let go. Ever. But he couldn't. Ryan kissed Horatio on the cheek and sighed. Horatio smiled a little and hummed when he did. He noticed how sad Ryan looked. Horatio didn't like seeing Ryan so upset. "I'm okay. You don't have to worry anymore." Horatio told him. "I'm here. For good. I'll completely heal- nothing's permanent, I don't think."

Ryan nodded again. He knew that Horatio was right. He knew that all of Horatio's wounds would heal eventually. He knew that he would feel better eventually. And he knew that Horatio wouldn't leave him or his family behind.

Horatio let go of Ryan's hand again. He closed his eyes. Ryan knew he was tired, but he was trying to stay awake for him. Horatio spoke softly. So soft that Ryan almost didn't hear him. But he did. "Natalia…"

"We know. She's been arrested."

"Right. Of course; you've all been good at your jobs. I knew you'd figure it out."

"We just don't know why, though."

"I know why."

"Really?"

"Money." Horatio answered. He kept breathing, but it became a little slower. Ryan let himself smile a bit at the sleeping lieutenant. He turned to leave the room. He walked down the hall, looking for Eric to tell him what Horatio had said. But he had a feeling that he would know already after speaking to the officers.

When he found Eric, Ryan was startled. Mostly because Eric had ran right into him. Ryan was looking down as he walked, while Eric was busy looking at his phone. They both recoiled, a little pissed at the other for not watching where they were going. But Ryan saw how pissed Eric looked, so he let it go. "What's up?" Ryan asked.

"I was just coming to get you. So you know how Natalia was involved, right?"

"Yeah, Horatio said she was after-."

"Money, yeah. Apparently she was expecting a huge payday. But not from just anyone. Guess who?" Eric said.

Ryan was in no mood to guess. So he just shook his head.

"Julia."

Ryan gaped as he stared at Eric. Surely, Eric was wrong. Julia, as in Kyle's mother? Sure she was a little… intense, but Ryan couldn't see her hiring Natalia and Dan to kill everybody in the crime lab along with Horatio. Ryan shook his head again, as he and Eric both started walking out of the hospital together. "What's the motive? What does she gain from Horatio's death?"

Eric unlocked the car door as he got in. "It's not what she gains. It's what Kyle gets- inheritance. Horatio has money set aside for Kyle. If Horatio dies, the money goes to Kyle."

"But she wanted Kyle dead, too."

"Well get this- they have a joint bank account. I guess she convinced Kyle to let her handle his finances. If Kyle was gone, that money is hers." Eric told Ryan. He stuck the key in the ignition and they started driving. Ryan didn't understand this. He could get why Julia would want the money. But he couldn't understand why everyone else was supposed to die, too. "What about everyone at the crime lab? What does she gain from us being dead? Or Alana?"

"I don't know yet. But I'll find out." Eric dropped Ryan off in front of the crime lab. He asked Ryan to see if Calleigh would come out with him. Ryan of course couldn't, since he was pregnant. He agreed and immediately went to find Calleigh. He filled her in on everything just to watch her face go from pure joy from hearing that Horatio was still alive. To being in rage when she heard it was Julia's doing. When Ryan told Calleigh that Eric wanted her to go with him, she left instantly. She said nothing. She just simply went past Ryan and got into the elevator.

Dave spotted Ryan and approached. "Hey, you okay? You look a little…"

"I'm fine. Eric and I were just at the hospital."

"Hospital? Are you okay?" Dave asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Actually, it was Horatio." Ryan told him. "He's alive and in the hospital. Now Eric and Calleigh are out trying to find Julia."

Dave frowned. "Julia; as in Kyle's mom?"

"Yup. I guess she promised Natalia and Dan money if everyone was killed."

Dave seemed genuinely surprised. He pushed his long hair that was usually in a ponytail to the side. He wasn't sure of what to do or what to say. He just shrugged and shook his head. "I guess people will do anything for money. I'm glad Horatio's okay, though. I'll go see if I can find anything on Julia online or in phone records."

"Okay, thanks Dave. Have you seen Rick?"

"He's in his office. He's been in a bad mood all day, though. So be careful." Dave told him, walking off back toward the direction of the audio/visual lab. Ryan hadn't spoken to Rick too much lately. He wasn't actively out to avoid him or anything like that. Ryan had just been busy and his mind was all over the place. He did notice though, that Rick hadn't tried to talk to him either. But Ryan just thought that was because he didn't know what to do or say.

Ryan made his way to the elevators and pushed the button to get to the IAB floor. The elevator seemed to go agonizingly slow. Leaving Ryan with time to try to sort his thoughts. 'Try' being the keyword. He wasn't too sure he could. When the doors opened, he found himself rushing to get into Rick's office, but he stopped completely. Ryan shook his head and then started walking more slowly and calm, ignoring the strange look that Rick's receptionist was giving him. He knocked on the already opened door. Rick was standing up, his back was facing the door and he seemed to be looking out of the window pointing outside. When he heard the knocking, Rick turned and saw Ryan. "Oh, come in." He said.

Ryan entered the room, and thought about closing the door. He wasn't sure if this was so much as a private matter anymore. So he decided against it, standing awkwardly by the door. But Rick didn't allow that. He told Ryan to take a seat in the chair across from him. Rick sat, and then so did Ryan. "I just-."

"You wanted to tell me that Horatio is in the hospital." Rick said calmly.

Ryan paused and then nodded. "Yeah. How did you-?"

"Police radio. One of the officers were walking by and I heard. They're out looking for Julia, correct?" Rick asked. To which Ryan nodded again. Rick made a sound like 'hmm' and he looked out his window again. "I hope they find her. I need to know what is going through her mind. She's a loon."

"I just really wanted to say thanks to you." Ryan told him.

"Thanks?"

"I was acting kind of like a brat when I was staying with you. I'm just a really defensive person, you know. But I really did appreciate everything you did for me and Alana. And I'm thankful that you helped out with the case so much. I know you don't like Horatio, so I really didn't expect you to. But I'm glad you did." Ryan said.

Rick furrowed his eyebrows and he let out a deep breath. "I don't like Horatio. At all. But I wouldn't have his death on me. If I let that happen, I'd be just as bad as Natalia, Julia, and Dan. And I couldn't just let you or Alana be left in danger."

"Can you just accept my thanks, please? It's not often we're being nice and genuine to each other and I don't know when that will happen again."

Rick chuckled a little but he agreed. "You're welcome, Ryan."

Ryan glanced at the door, kind of wishing that he would have shut the door. He wanted to say something else, but he was afraid of someone on the floor would hear. So Ryan dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Rick, I made a mistake. When you kissed me-."

"When _we_ kissed." Rick corrected him. "Don't make it sound like it was all on me." His tone wasn't angry or upset in any way. It seemed like his normal, calm voice.

"When _we_ kissed, it was a mistake. You know, I was upset and overwhelmed. Frankly I was hormonal. I am sorry that I let it happen, and I'm sorry for upsetting you."

Rick was quiet. He just stared at Ryan expectedly.

"I did know that you had feelings for me. Well, I didn't know exactly but I kind of thought you did. I just didn't say anything cuz, I mean, it wasn't really appropriate. So you were right about that. And I was being selfish because when I kissed you I was only doing it because I feeling bad about myself and the whole situation. Whereas you kissed me because you like me." Ryan answered. Still, Rick was relatively quiet. "So, I'm sorry."

Rick seemed to be taking it all in. When Ryan figured that he had in fact, taken it all in, Rick shrugged his shoulders. "Are you going to tell Horatio that you kissed me?"

"You kissed me!"

"Well that we kissed- whatever; are you going to tell him?" Rick asked Ryan.

Ryan quickly shook his head. "No. I don't think he needs to know. He was kidnapped, tortured and now he's in the hospital. There's no need to tell him and upset him more because I made a stupid mistake. Why; are you going to tell him?"

Rick smiled and he laughed. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

Rick Stetler- everyone knew how he was. He did his job and more, but he always did it in a way that he knew would piss people off. Ryan always thought that maybe he just liked to cause problems and that he liked to see the lab on their toes while around him. Ryan had gotten to know Rick a little bit, but he didn't really know what kind of person Rick was. So he had no idea if he should be worried about him confessing this secret to Horatio or not. "Tell Horatio that I wish him a speedy recovery." Rick said. Ryan only agreed. He stood from the chair and started walking out of the room, feeling even more confused than before he went in.


	19. Hospital

Nineteen

Ryan was worried when Walter had informed him that when Eric and Calleigh went to Julia's home, she was nowhere to be found. Her bank account had been cleared out, her car was found abandoned and her house was a mess.

But then, Walter told Ryan that they had put out an APB on Julia, and someone had called in from a toll booth saying that they had just seen her leaving the city. Officers sprang into action, hopped in their cars and raced off to follow. Leaving Ryan feeling useless as he was pregnant and couldn't go out anywhere. He wanted to help so bad, but he settled for staying back with Walter and Dave. They were both sitting in the break room, just chatting away while eating junk food. Ryan on the other hand, was pacing around the table.

"With all your walking, you might have just shed ten pounds," Dave joked. "Sit down, Ryan. They will find Julia. She couldn't have gotten far. And then she'll be in prison and you won't have to worry anymore."

Ryan shook his head. "No way, this was just too easy. I mean, it was a hard case and all, but Dan went down too easily. Natalia went down too easily. Horatio was suddenly able to make it to a hospital and now Julia's running. It doesn't make sense. I feel like something else is happening and by the time we figure it out, it'll be too late." Ryan told them. Walter and Dave exchanged worried glances. Both of them had thought of that, but neither of them wanted to be the one to say it aloud and worry Ryan. But now Ryan was already worried about it.

"The receptionist told me that Natalia was planning something big. We got everyone out of the lab only to find out her big thing was to stab me?" Ryan questioned. "And then what was she going to do? Stab everyone else one by one as they came back?"

Walter nodded. "You're saying you think Natalia was just a ploy?"

"I think she and Dan were both just pawns- collateral damage. I don't think Julia is behind this. She's a little unhinged but she couldn't have thought of this all alone."

"Maybe someone put it in her head." Dave suggested.

"Like a boyfriend." Walter said.

Ryan nodded. "Or an ex-husband that hates Horatio."

Walter agreed and he ate more junk food. He seemed to be thinking about something, so Dave and Ryan watched and waited quietly for him to finish. When he did, he wiped his hands on a napkin and then looked at Ryan. "We should find Ron Saris and bring him in for questioning."

Dave stood up. "I looked up Julia's phone records- she did call a number a few times but it was a burner phone, kind of like our 'Red Cline'. Maybe she was calling Ron to keep him updated. Do we even know where he is? He disappears a lot."

"Maybe? We might have his last listed address but who knows if he stayed there." Ryan answered. "I think just waiting for them to find Julia would be the best option. I can tell them to look into Ron a little bit and hopefully it'll be enough to bring him in, too."

"But Ron is rich, right? Why would he need Kyle's inheritance money?" Walter asked.

Dave shrugged. "Ron is rich but Julia isn't. She's okay, but not rich. She gains money, Ron gains the satisfaction of Horatio dead."

"Sounds like motive to me." Ryan said.

When Ryan went back to the hospital to visit Horatio, he was in a relatively good mood. He'd just saw Alana and Kyle and they both had gifts for their dad. Ryan was in charge of getting the gifts to Horatio. And he had some news for Horatio- news he was absolutely terrified to tell him.

Horatio's room was covered in balloons, flowers and get well soon cards sent in by his friends. Ryan spotted the large bag of sweets next to Horatio's bed. Although, he didn't see Horatio yet. The bathroom door was closed, so he figured he was in there. Ryan sat down on a chair in the room, putting the gifts Alana and Kyle had for him on the hospital bed so Horatio would see it right away.

Although when Horatio came out of the bathroom, it wasn't the first thing he saw. The first thing to catch his eye was his boyfriend sitting in the chair, looking at him with a genuine smile on his face.

Ryan stood and gave Horatio a hug, careful not to hurt him. He knew that Horatio still felt pain in his ribs. Horatio hugged back with one arm, as he could only do since his other arm was broken. He smiled and kissed Ryan on the cheek. "Hey, you're early."

"Yeah, I left a little sooner than expected and traffic wasn't too bad." Ryan told him. "There's something for you on the bed."

Horatio turned and saw a small bag. He opened it and found a homemade card, obviously written by Alana but signed by both her and Kyle. Seeing that made him happy. There was also a small bracelet inside the bag and something else that Horatio wasn't too sure of what it is. Ryan saw Horatio eyeing it so he spoke up. "Alana made her grandmother go out and buy a craft kit and she insisted on making it for you. Kyle helped a little. He tried to make one but it was only big enough to be a glorified cloth ring."

Horatio chuckled and put his gifts back into the bag. "Well, it's still nice. I'll treasure them. Now where's your gifts to me?"

"You just expect a present from me?"

"Well, yeah."

"My gift is something that you can't have just yet."

"Why not?"

"Because," Ryan laughed and looked around a little. "I don't want you to freak out but when I went to my routine doctor's appointment, I had to get some tests done because there was some abnormalities."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, he told me everything was fine but, uh, he told me why he thought there was something wrong." Ryan told him cautiously. Horatio sat down on his bed, ready to brace himself for the worst, thinking about how this was a strange present. He nodded his head, his way of getting Ryan to continue.

"Well, the heartbeat was a little faint so we couldn't hear it initially. And I was gaining more weight than usual, so he thought that maybe something was wrong. And the baby is smaller than usual so we didn't even see her or him at first. But now we do."

Horatio was confused. "What? What are you trying to hint at?"

"Uh, the other baby is perfectly normal- strong heartbeat, normal weight; just healthy. But the other one was so small and-."

"Wait, wait wait; _other_ baby?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, there's two babies. Inside of me. Right now."

"Twins?"

"Yes."

"Wow." Horatio breathed out. Ryan couldn't quite tell what Horatio was thinking. His face was so neutral. Taking care of Alana when she was a baby was hard enough but two, just seemed a lot harder. He was worried about how Horatio would take it. Horatio sighed. "Well, then I guess I better heal faster so that I can come home and help out."

Ryan smiled. "Yeah, that would be great. You think you can handle twins?"

"Me? I can handle anything." Horatio answered. He'd always been a little cocky. Ryan laughed, though because he knew Horatio could handle it. He just wasn't so sure if he himself could handle it. Internally, Ryan was freaking out. Two babies? That's twice as many diapers, twice as many feeding times. Twice as much crying and twice as much not going to sleep. After Alana was born, Ryan barely had time for anything- not himself or Horatio. Now with twins plus Alana, it would have been just as bad. If not, more.

"I'm happy." Ryan told Horatio. "I'm scared, but I'm happy."

"Well you have me so there's no need to be scared. I can handle it all." Horatio chuckled, making Ryan laugh again.

Horatio and Ryan spent about an half hour together just talking. They talked about everything regarding how Alana was doing. Ryan told him that he brought home a dog that she named Domino. Horatio thought that was just the cutest thing in the world. He talked about Kyle a little, about how worried Kyle was. Ryan was sure to leave out the part in which Kyle said that Ryan might have driven Horatio away. Horatio felt bad and even explained to Ryan how he was able to call Kyle. He said that Julia had hired Dan to hold him. Every day Dan would give him a minute or two, nothing more and nothing less, to call Kyle. Horatio guessed that it was to keep up the ruse of him being away on vacation. This confused Horatio, because he wasn't aware he was on vacation.

But he did as he was told because Dan had told him multiple times if he didn't, Alana, Kyle and Ryan would have been hurt. And of course Horatio couldn't risk anything happening to his family.

"I didn't really understand the plan. They take me and hold me captive for so long. But for what?" Horatio questioned. "I was told I was going to be killed. Dan said you would call 'any day now' to say goodbye. I thought I was going to die then, but after that phone conversation Dan called Julia and told her what happened. She said you guys were obviously tracing the call and instructed Dan to move me somewhere else. I thought I would die then too, but they didn't kill me. Just kept me alive for slow torture."

"Well…" Ryan had started, but didn't know what to say. Honestly, he had no idea what it was either. Horatio lay down on the hospital bed, and winced in pain as he did so.

"Dan told me that they hired someone to tell you that they were going to," he hesitated, " _hurt_ Alana next. But then that didn't happen either."

Ryan shook his head. "They left a note. But you're right- nothing happened to Alana. Maybe it was just to fuck with us- make us go crazy with worry that someone could harm our daughter at any moment."

"Yeah, well they succeeded. That was the worst. I had no idea what was going on, on the outside world. For all I knew, Alana was hurt and then Kyle would be next and then you. And there wasn't anything I could do about it. Just had to wait until it was my time, I guess."

"What did Dan have to gain out of this? I mean, he's in prison now! If he was offered money, surely he would have known that he would be caught and this would be the outcome- no money. The only fame he got was letting the inmates know that he 'killed Horatio Caine' but that can only get you so far in there." Ryan said.

Right now, everything about Horatio was being kept a secret. As far as the public knew, he had been kidnapped and hadn't been found yet. It was for the best. No one wanted anything bad to happen to Horatio while he was held up in the hospital. At the right time, the truth would come out. But not quite yet.


	20. Information

Twenty

Ryan was in the middle of playing a video game with Kyle when he had gotten a phone call.

Alana was in the kitchen with Ryan's mother, helping her cook dinner for everyone. His dad was in his bedroom taking a nap. He said he needed one after chasing Alana around all day long. And Ryan and Kyle were sitting in the living room playing games. They had been doing so for the last hour and a half. Ryan had never been into games, but he figured he'd give it a shot seeing as it was something Kyle enjoyed.

And it was somewhat fun, Ryan admitted. But he was so awful at it, and Kyle kept beating him. Ryan could only lose so many times before it got old.

When his phone rang, Ryan initially just let it go to voicemail. Someone had left a message, but then seconds later he got another call. That time, Ryan actually looked at his phone. Giving Kyle the advantage to win the game again and for Ryan to see that Calleigh was calling. Ryan excused himself and went outside in the front yard to take the call.

"Hey Cal." He said.

"Ryan, I just called you."

"Yeah, I was hanging out with Kyle. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all. It's the exact opposite of 'wrong'." Calleigh answered. "We found the guys that were waiting outside of Kyle's house. We offered immunity to get them to tell us everything they knew, and to give up where Julia was."

"Immunity? Was that such a good idea?"

Calleigh sighed. "Ask Stetler. I had no control over it. He said that since they didn't actually hurt Kyle it would be fine. He said they were just hired to 'scare' him and since we don't have evidence proving otherwise…" Calleigh replied. "Anyways, it worked, I guess. They gave up Julia's hiding spot and she is now in custody. She's waiting to be questioned now. You should see her. She's so calm; it's almost eerie. And she keeps smiling."

Ryan felt a little bit of anger inside of him when Calleigh said that Rick had offered them immunity. But he couldn't do anything about it. He could just try to be happy that they had found Julia.

"Hey Calleigh listen, I've been thinking about this whole thing and it just seems way too elaborate for Julia to have come up with this all on her own." Ryan told her.

"So you think she was working with someone?"

"Well, what about Ron Saris? He has motive to want to Horatio hurt or dead. And he and Julia have a history together. I just think it's worth looking into."

"You know, Walter and Dave said the same thing. Alright, I'll look into it."

"Thanks."

"I'll call you later." And Calleigh hung up. Ryan was happy that they had Julia, but he wondered how Kyle would take the news. Ryan hadn't told him yet that it was his own mother that possibly calling the shots. He had no idea how. And frankly, he wasn't sure if he should be the one to break the news. He thought that maybe it should be Horatio to tell Kyle, since Horatio is Kyle's father. But at the same time, Ryan didn't want to just leave it up to Horatio to tell Kyle. After all, he had been through a lot.

Kyle had looked up to Ryan when he came back inside. Kyle smiled and asked Ryan if he wanted to keep playing the game or to try another one. Ryan sat down on the couch and thought. "Hmm, let's try another one."

Kyle went and changed the game out, handed Ryan his controller and then began explaining this new game to him. "Okay, you have to go over there to get more ammo. Over there is where you get more health. And you shoot those guys here wearing dark blue. Not the guys wearing light blue because they help us. And the guys in purple are our teammates."

Ryan nodded. "Uh, okay. That's a little confusing."

"No, it's easy."

"Everyone looks the same!" Ryan exclaimed. He pressed a few buttons and then boom. Ryan's character had gotten blown up. Kyle started to laugh, telling Ryan that he had just blown himself up.

Alana came scurrying into the room carrying a small plate. "Here you go, daddy."

Ryan looked at it and saw his daughter was carrying a plate of orange slices. "Thank you, Alana."

"Grandma let me pretend cut them with a plastic knife."

"Sounds great."

"Here you go, Kyle." She handed another plate of oranges to Kyle. He smiled and hugged her in thanks. Alana ran off back into the kitchen once she was done in the living room.

Kyle had repeatedly killed Ryan's character, though they were on the same team. Ryan didn't really mind it, as he was barely paying attention to the game. But Kyle seemed to be having fun, so he just let it go anyways. "Hey Ryan?" Kyle questioned, getting Ryan's attention. "When can I see dad? Is he in that bad of shape that I can't or is it just safer if I don't go to the hospital?"

"Well, as of now, no one outside of you, Alana, the hospital staff, and the lab knows that Horatio is still alive. Everyone else still believes that he is dead thanks to Dan's confession. Right now we're just trying to keep contact with him at a minimum to keep it a secret that he is alive. When I go see him, I have to pretend it's under the guise of me conducting an investigation." Ryan explained.

Kyle nodded as he proceeded to blow up Ryan's character again. "Yeah that makes sense. And I bet dad doesn't want Alana and I to see him in the hospital anyways."

That was also true. Horatio had expressed that he absolutely did not want Alana in the hospital to see him until he was a lot better and some of the bruising on his body went away. And he said the same for Kyle. He was sure Kyle could handle it, but that didn't mean that Horatio could.

Shortly after, Ryan's mother told them that dinner was ready. Alana sat next to Ryan, even snuggling up close to him. So much so that she really couldn't eat at the angle she was in. Ryan pretty much ate with one hand while he held onto Alana with the other one.

Ryan was very grateful for his parents. They absolutely loved Alana and Kyle but Ryan wasn't so sure they'd want to keep them for a few weeks at their house. Although, knowing his own parents, Ryan should have known that they'd have no problem with it.

Alana looked up at Ryan were her big, curious eyes. "How are the babies?"

"They're good. Nice and healthy." Ryan told her. Alana nodded in content with that answer. Since Alana didn't get to see Ryan everyday like she was used to, she started asking him every chance she got how the babies were. And Ryan gave almost the same answer every time. It made him happy that Alana asked how her siblings were.

Alana was excited when she was told that Ryan was having twins. Really, Ryan just thought she was more happy to finally be the older sibling. He told Alana that since there were two babies instead of one, that he and Horatio would need help. She was more than happy than to exclaim that she would do it. She even said Domino would help, too.

~

"She said that she was upset because she felt like Kyle loved Horatio more than he loved her."

Ryan nodded and listened closely. He looked at Horatio, whose face seemed neutral. He just sat there, watching as he spoke and listened. Ryan wasn't so sure that Horatio would have listened to him, but he was. Ryan expected Horatio to get annoyed with him, but he didn't seem to. At least not yet.

"She also said that Horatio was favoring Alana over Kyle." He continued. "That was her reason for wanting Alana dead. She just thinks it wasn't fair for her to love Kyle so much only for him to favor Horatio, while Horatio favored Alana."

Horatio shook his head. "That's not true at all. Julia knows Kyle loves her and would do anything for her. And I love my kids equally- there's no competition between them."

Rick nodded as he listened to Horatio. "I'm sure you do, Horatio. I'm just telling you guys what happened."

"What else?" Ryan questioned.

"Well, she said she approached Dan about it first. He was very willing to help out. But Natalia needed more coaxing. She initially wanted nothing to do with it, but when Julia spoke to her about Nick, she agreed to help." Rick continued.

Nick Townsend was Natalia's abusive ex-husband. He was killed years ago. Before that though, it had came out that he was seeing Natalia and Valera at the same time. Ryan wondered what he had to do with anything. So he asked. "Okay, so what about Nick?"

"Well- and this is just according to Julia- Natalia was arrested for Nick's murder, right? We all know that, but she was cleared along with Valera. But Julia stated that she brought up how Horatio and the lab didn't do their best to help her. Her abusive ex was suddenly allowed to be around her, he was allowed to apply for a job near her, and then he was allowed to file a restraining order against Natalia. She was mad all over again."

"I did everything I could do to help and protect Natalia." Horatio said.

"Well she felt you didn't try hard enough. If Nick hadn't have been hired, then he wouldn't have died and she wouldn't have been blamed, and Valera wouldn't have started seeing him. According to her, anyways."

"That's ridiculous," Ryan said. "Horatio couldn't have done anything differently and it's not his fault that her DNA was found in Nick's home, and it's definitely not his fault Valera started seeing him."

Rick shrugged. "Well she needed someone to blame. My guess would be that Julia just planted the seed in her mind that it was Horatio's fault."

"And this happened years ago! Why is she so pissed about it now?"

"I don't know, Ryan."

"I want to talk to her myself." Ryan stated, matter-of-fact-like. Horatio put his arm around Ryan's shoulder. He seemed to have been taking it harder than Horatio was. Horatio squeezed his shoulder lightly to try to calm him at least a little bit. Rick looked down for a split second before returning his gaze back to the men in front of him. "And what about Ron? Was he involved?" Horatio asked Rick.

Rick visibly tensed a little. Ron Saris was a confidential informant, meaning he had immunity. Which also meant that he couldn't be arrested for any crimes. This was granted by Rick. Horatio hated that Rick had granted him immunity because he knew that it would backfire someday.

"Julia implicated Ron, yes." Rick explained. "She said he was behind it all, he originally came to her with the plan and ensured her that they wouldn't be caught. We've spoken to him. He says that Julia came to him with the plan and confessed it to him- but he had nothing to do with it. So he has agreed to testify against her."

"And that's it? I told you, Rick…" Horatio sighed.

"Yeah, I know, Horatio. I made a mistake, okay?" Rick replied curtly.

Ryan noticed how upset Horatio was. He was trying not to let it show, but Ryan knew better. "So what's going to happen with Julia?"

"With Ron's testimony, she'll probably go down for this whole thing. Her motive was wanting money and to get Ron back- killing Horatio would have gotten both Ron and the money. She wanted Alana and Kyle gone for selfish reasons and also money." Rick answered. "Natalia wanted revenge for Nick. And Dan was pissed about being fired. He was mad at Dave for 'stealing' his job. Mad at Eric for roughing him up. Mad at Calleigh for going to out him for stealing Tim Speedle's credit card. Really, everyone is just bitter. And they're all going away for a long time hopefully."

Horatio didn't want Julia to take the fall for the whole thing. She definitely deserved to go to prison. And for a long time too, along with Dan and Natalia. But Ron Saris needed to go to prison, too. Ryan was so sure that this was all Ron's doing. The only problem was the stupid immunity. And stupid Rick for offering it to him. Horatio let his hand fall from Ryan's shoulder. He started shaking his hand. "Why would you offer a guy like him immunity? You knew what he was capable of."

"I did what I thought what was best."

"Look how well that turned out."

Ryan shook his head as he sighed. "Rick," he paused when both of the guys snapped to his attention, "Rick didn't know that this would happen. I doubt he would have gave Ron immunity if he had any idea. Sure, we all knew Ron was dangerous. But he did help and as an informant, and had a lot of needed information."

"You think what Rick did was right?" Horatio asked, incredulous.

Now Ryan was regretting speaking up. "Well no. I just think that Rick did what he thought was right. And maybe it was right- at the time. Now not so much. But I'm not putting the blame on Rick."

"It's his fault!"

"We've all done things as CSI's that we may not be proud of." Ryan said, definitely speaking from experience. And then Horatio stopped talking. He got quiet. Rick looked at Ryan with appreciation. Horatio stared hard at Rick. Ryan and Rick just sat there, wondering if he'd say something else.

But he didn't.


	21. Back Home

Twenty One:

It wasn't hard at all for Horatio to get back into the groove of being home. He came home first, along with Ryan, of course and immediately wanted to get started on dinner. Ryan wanted him to lay down in the bed to relax first. Ryan didn't want him to just start cooking on his first day back home. It didn't seem fair. But Horatio was hellbent on not just lounging around. He told Ryan that he'd been 'relaxing' in the hospital bed for two weeks. He refused to lay down again until he was going to bed.

So Horatio started cooking. He made his and Ryan's favorite food; spaghetti. And he made Alana's favorite drink; banana and blueberry smoothies. He even asked Ryan if he needed to go to the store to pick up anything for his cravings. Of course Ryan said no, but he was grateful that Horatio at least asked. Ryan left Horatio to do his thing, while he went to go pick up Alana from his parents house. They thought it might have been safe enough for Alana to finally come home. Rick had told them that Ron Saris had left Miami. They had no idea why or where he was. But they knew he'd be back for Julia's court case. Until then, Alana was coming home. Quite frankly because, Ryan and Horatio both missed her. And Ryan hated taking care of Domino all alone.

Alana was practically bouncing out of her seat the entire car ride. Kyle sat in the front seat, but he would occasionally turn around to tell Alana to calm down or to stop jumping.

Although Kyle wouldn't let it show, Ryan could tell he was just as excited as Alana to finally be able to see Horatio. He kept smiling the whole ride, and kept tapping his fingers on everything- his legs, the glovebox of the car, the car door, the arm rest. The constant tapping was mildly annoying to the very hormonal Ryan, but he stayed quiet and let it go. After all, he was excited too. Though he had seen Horatio constantly. He was just excited for Alana and Kyle.

When they pulled up to the house, Ryan barely had time to put the car in park before both Kyle and Alana had their seatbelts off and were trying to open the door. To no avail, because it was locked. Ryan chuckled and shook his head, telling them that it was dangerous to try to jump out of a car like that. Neither of them said anything as Ryan unlocked the car doors. They only opened them and darted for the front door. Ryan watched as Kyle tried to open the locked front door. He grunted in frustration and instead of waiting for Ryan to open the door, he started knocking. Loudly.

Before Ryan could make it to the front door to unlock it, it opened and Kyle immediately flung himself at Horatio. Ryan was worried he'd hurt Horatio, but he kept his mouth shut. Kyle hugged Horatio tightly and Horatio hugged back with his one good arm. Alana clung onto Horatio's legs, since she was so short and couldn't reach higher. The whole scene was pretty heartwarming. Still, Ryan was worried about them hurting Horatio.

He expressed his worry, only to have Horatio shut it down, stating that he would be fine. He told Ryan not to worry about it. That was to be expected, though. Ryan was paranoid, he thought to just let it go.

When Kyle and Alana let go, they all finally went inside. Horatio told them that he made dinner and that he had it ready on the table for them. They sat down at the kitchen table, only for Alana to burst into loud, unintelligible sobs. Horatio put his arm around her, to soothe his daughter but she just wouldn't calm down. She started screaming, saying she missed Horatio so much. She missed him tucking her in at night, she missed his cooking and baking. She missed the way he'd read stories to her. She just missed him.

Horatio just nodded his head, listening to her. He noticed Kyle's eyes were teary as well, but he didn't comment on it. He didn't think Kyle would have wanted him to.

Ryan saw Horatio wince in pain as Alana squeezed him tighter.

"Hey, Alana; maybe not so tight?" Ryan suggested. To which immediately, Horatio gave him a look. One that made Ryan stop talking and to look down at the food in front of him. He felt a hand touch his arm, and looked over to Kyle who was staring at him. Kyle offered Ryan a smile, making Ryan return one. Then Kyle removed his hand and then started eating, all the while Alana cried and clung onto Horatio.

That night, Ryan sat up in bed. He held some papers in his hands that he thought that Horatio might have wanted to see. Horatio was in the guest room, speaking to Kyle who had decided to stay over for the night. Alana was also in the room, despite it being way past her bedtime. Ryan did sit with them for a little while, but after that he decided to shower and go to bed. Only, he couldn't sleep. So there he was, waiting for Horatio to come to bed and to hope that he wouldn't fall asleep in the guest room.

A twinge of guilt rushed through Ryan. He felt selfish. He wanted Horatio to come to bed now. He knew that Horatio along with Kyle and Alana were excited to see each other again. He knew that being apart for that long was devastating for them. But it was for Ryan, too. Sure, Ryan got to visit Horatio in the hospital while Alana and Kyle couldn't. But they were out of the hospital now and Ryan just wanted to sit with Horatio. Alone and out of the hospital to talk about any and everything. Ryan felt selfish because he knew that Horatio wanted and deserved alone time with his kids. But he wanted alone time, too.

Ryan sighed to himself and looked at the clock yet again. It was a little after eleven pm and he could still hear Alana laughing. She had preschool in the morning and she was still awake. She would be so cranky by the time she had to get up in the morning. And she would be in a bad mood all day if she didn't go to sleep.

Ryan climbed out of bed and walked down the long hallway toward the guest room. He heard Kyle and Alana laughing, and when he peered inside, he saw that Horatio had a large smile on his face. To get their attentions, he knocked on the already opened door. Alana and Kyle looked at him, but Horatio hadn't. "Sorry to interrupt but it's after 11:00 o'clock. It's time for Alana to go to sleep now."

Just as he said it, Alana rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "But I'm not tired."

"Alana it's bedtime." Kyle told her. "Maybe I can pick you up after preschool and we can go to the mall or maybe the park?"

Alana eagerly nodded her head. "Okay. Can dad read me a story?"

"I think you should actually just go straight to bed." Ryan said.

Horatio shook his head. "No, I can read you a story, Alana." He stood and lifted Alana with his one arm and held her tightly to his chest. Ryan saw him wince again. "Horatio, she really-."

"I can read one little story to my daughter, Ryan." Horatio answered.

Alana and Kyle both looked a little uncomfortable. They both noticed the sudden shift in the mood. And they definitely heard Horatio's tone of voice. Alana had looked at Horatio with her wide eyes, surprised. Kyle just bit his bottom lip and didn't make eye contact with them.

Silently, Ryan just nodded his head and turned to leave the room again. He heard Horatio's footsteps behind him, but that stopped when Horatio turned and entered Alana's room. Suddenly, Ryan felt like a mood killer. He knew that Horatio just wanted to spend more time with them. And that was to be expected. He thought about maybe relenting and allowing Alana to stay up longer but he knew that would really mess up her sleep schedule.

Ryan got back into the bed, leaving the papers he wanted to show Horatio on his own side. Ryan rolled over, turned off the light and closed his eyes. A while later, he was awoken when he heard Horatio mumbling under his breath and shifting on the bed. Ryan turned his head and looked at Horatio, who was holding at his chest and looked in pain. Horatio saw Ryan looking at him.

"Think I might have overdone it today."

"As usual. That's nothing new." Ryan answered. Then he remembered the papers and looked closer, to make sure Horatio wasn't sitting on them.

Horatio grabbed them off of the nightstand table next to the bed and held it so Ryan could see the papers were safe. "I saw them already. Thanks for giving me the ultrasound pictures."

He told Horatio that he thought he might want to see them. Ryan lay flat on his back and continued to look at Horatio. But Horatio wasn't looking at him. He looked at Ryan's hair, then his nose, then to his stomach. But he didn't look him in the eyes. Ryan hated that. "You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Avoiding eye contact."

Horatio only hummed in response and nodded. He continued looking at Ryan's nose before finally looking him in the eyes. Ryan nodded and rolled back over, looking at the clock. It was now 1am, and he wondered if Horatio had just gotten into the bed or if he'd been there a while. But he didn't want to ask. "Did you have fun?"

"It's really nice to see Alana and Kyle. I missed them so much, but I had no idea how much they missed me." Horatio answered.

"Of course they did. You're all they talked about." Ryan said. "We all missed you."

Ryan felt Horatio move in closer to him and kiss his cheek. "I missed you guys, too."

Unexpectedly, Ryan shook his head. "What's up with you today?" Ryan questioned. Before waiting for an answer he continued, "I get that you didn't want to lay in bed all day; you did that at the hospital. You wanted to cook for your family- I get that, too and I appreciate it. But you've been acting so short with me. And when it was time for Alana to go to bed, you insisted on reading her a story when you know how she gets when she stays up past her bedtime. It messes up her sleep schedule."

Horatio seemed baffled. "You didn't want our daughter to hug me-"

That got Ryan to lean up. "Why wouldn't I? I just didn't want her to hurt you. You were obviously in pain."

"- and excuse me for wanting to spend some more time with my kids."

"Even you just admitted you overdid it today. And you can barely look me in the eye."

Horatio sighed. "I'm not this fragile being. I can handle being squeezed by a child."

Ryan huffed out in frustration. He just shook his head again and just laid back down. "Okay. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm happy you're home. I'm just going to go to bed." He closed his eyes, and felt the bed move. Horatio had laid down, too. Ryan tried to clear his mind, because he really did hate going to bed mad at Horatio. And he was happy he was home. And now he felt bad for ruining Horatio's good mood.

"What's the story with you and Rick?"

Ryan opened his eyes again to find Horatio staring blankly at the ceiling. "There's no story."

"Well, Eric told me that Rick helped with the case a lot. Surprisingly, really. And when he came to the hospital to tell me about Julia you took his side about Ron. I don't know, you just seemed different around each other. Did you two become friends? I mean, it makes sense because you were both working so close together." Horatio explained. Ryan breathed out, not even realizing he was holding his breath.

Ryan shrugged. "I wouldn't say we're friends. We just have a better understanding of each other. Eric's right, he did help with the case. So much. I'm grateful. And I think he's just happy you're not dead."

"I shouldn't have kept Alana up so late."

"You were just excited. I understand. I just wish you wouldn't dismiss me so easily."

Horatio glanced at Ryan. Then he leaned over again and kissed him on the lips. When Horatio pulled away and saw that Ryan had a panicked look on his face. This was… odd. Definitely not the face Ryan usually had when they kissed. Before Horatio could ask what was wrong, Ryan put his arm over his own eyes.

"Rick…" Ryan said.

Horatio chuckled. "That's not my name."

"No. Rick…I…." Ryan suddenly shot out of bed. "I need water."

Surprised, Horatio's response was "okay". Ryan's behavior was questionable. Horatio concluded that he was more upset than Horatio had thought. He would make it a point to apologize again to Ryan about today.


	22. Talking

Twenty Two

"I'm so paranoid about him finding out."

"It's not like you slept with him, Ryan. It was just a kiss."

"It wasn't just a kiss." Ryan said. "This was full-blown making out and second base. Even if it was just a kiss, it shouldn't have happened."

Ryan was skeptical about coming to Dave with this. He knew Dave liked Rick. Dave had gotten upset with Ryan before about Rick. But he couldn't go to Calleigh or Eric. They were both friends with Horatio. They would shun Ryan instantly. Especially after they finally believed there was no affair with Rick.

Ryan couldn't go to Walter. He really liked Walter, and Ryan thought that they were pretty close. But he knew that Walter would be upset with him, too. The only person Ryan could have gone to was Dave and he was just thankful that Dave didn't freak out on him.

Dave thought for a moment. "Are you going to tell him?"

"I think I have to."

"Well, would you want Horatio to tell you if he had kissed someone else?"

"Yeah, I think so. I just don't like having secrets." Ryan answered. He plopped down on the couch next to Dave. Dave pat Ryan on the back a few times, a small gesture.

They were at Dave's house. It wasn't too far from Ryan and Horatio's place. Horatio insisted that he be the one to take Alana to preschool. But then after an hour of being gone, Horatio called Ryan again to let him know that he didn't take her there. He decided to take her and Kyle out for the day. And that was okay to Ryan. Horatio had a right to see his kids more. But Ryan just felt alone. And guilty.

"Last night he kissed me and as soon as he did, all I could think about was Rick."

Dave frowned. "Like, you kissed and then you thought of Rick? Or you were thinking of Rick while kissing Horatio?"

Ryan too, frowned.

"You don't like Rick, do you? Like actual feelings of attraction? Or maybe you actually want to be with him?" Dave asked.

Ryan shrugged. "Rick isn't ugly. He's a pretty handsome guy. I guess I am somewhat attracted to him, or else I wouldn't have kissed him. Or let him kiss me, or whatever. But he's not Horatio. I don't want to be with anyone but him. And I feel bad about this whole thing. If I don't tell him I'm going to explode."

Dave nodded as he listened. "Then, there's your answer right there. You have to tell him. It'd be worse if Rick let it slip to Horatio. Or that the rumor gets back around to him."

"Can't I just build a time machine? That way I can go back in time and stop it, then I won't have to tell Horatio and then I wouldn't have hurt Rick."

"You can try, but I don't know how well that'll turn out. I'd wish you luck, though." Dave answered.

Ryan and Dave just sat there for a few moments. Dave turned on his TV and the news was on. Of course, they were talking about how Horatio Caine had been spotted outside. It was a shock, given that everyone had thought he was dead. The reporter went on and on about how Julia, Natalia and Dan had been arrested for Horatio's disappearance. Then she said that Dan confessed to murdering Horatio, which now was obviously untrue.

"When's the party for Horatio's homecoming?" Dave asked him. Calleigh had asked Ryan what he thought about her having a party for Horatio. It would be at her place, and she and Eric would plan the whole thing. Of course everyone in the lab would be invited. Ryan did think Horatio would want a party. But when he asked him about it, Horatio decided to be all coy and say he didn't want a party for himself. He wanted to have a party to celebrate everyone in the lab. So he told Calleigh that, who immediately dismissed that. She wanted to have a party for the lieutenant.

"Friday. Horatio agreed to a party as long as it's not focused on him."

"But it is focused on him."

"Well don't tell him that. You know how modest he is."

Dave chuckled because he did know how modest Horatio was. Of course Horatio didn't want a party just for him if it wasn't his birthday. Even then, he didn't really want a party. It seemed like he preferred going to parties for other people, instead. Maybe he just didn't like the attention.

"Well it should be interesting. Can't wait." Dave told him.

"We have to talk."

Ryan was washing dishes when Horatio said the four words that could strike fear and worry into any person. He panicked internally as he tried to seem as inconspicuous as possible. Ryan wiped his hands on a towel and sat down in the chair. He waited for Horatio to sit down, too but he didn't.

Ryan wondered what Horatio wanted to talk about. It definitely had to have been serious, considering that he waited until after Alana was fast asleep in bed. And when Alana had asked Horatio to read her a second story, he declined and told her she needed to sleep. So, Ryan was a bit nervous.

"Talk about what?" Ryan asked him.

Horatio ran his fingers through his own hair and sighed. "I just need to apologize again about yesterday."

Ryan sighed and shook his head. "No, Horatio you don't have to apologize again."

"I know yesterday I was a little rude to you. I shouldn't have been. So, I'm sorry. And I'm also sorry about everything you went through with Dan and all the notes…"

"It's not your fault everyone decided to go crazy. Don't apologize for that."

"I guess that's true. I still feel bad, though."

"Horatio, I was thinking," Ryan started, unsure if he should say it or not. "You were gone for so long. And I know that you were hurt pretty badly. Psychologically and physically. So have you thought about maybe talking to someone about it; a counselor?"

Horatio didn't say anything, so Ryan continued. "It's not good to bottle it up. It's pretty traumatic. I think you should go. I can't force you to, though."

Horatio nodded, looking at the table. "I'll think about it. It's probably not a bad idea."

"And maybe you can talk to a counselor about whatever else it is that's going on with you." Ryan said. He sighed. "You're still not looking me in the eyes. I don't think you do unless I point it out, or if we're having sex. Other than that, you stare at everything around me. Not to mention how you've been acting- before you got taken."

Horatio looked at the kitchen entryway. Ryan thought for a moment that he would just turn around and leave but he didn't. Horatio had his eyebrows furrowed like he was deep in thought.

"Is it me? Something I did?" Ryan questioned. "I wish you'd tell me so I could fix it and not have to walk around on eggshells around you."

Horatio shook his head. "You didn't do anything wrong. You always try to help."

"Yeah, and you push me away. When you were gone all I could think about was getting you back so we could be together. And happy. Like before. When you were in the hospital, you seemed back to 'normal', and like you were glad to see me for once. But now it's like one second you can't stand the sight of me, then you want to kiss or fondle me." Ryan said.

"Ryan, I'm always happy to see you. I just feel stressed sometimes and unfortunately I unintentionally take it out on you."

"Stressed about what?"

"Maybe I should talk to someone." Horatio said. And that was it. He got quiet again. He made it a point to kiss Ryan first on the cheek, then on the lips before leaving the kitchen. Leaving Ryan alone again in his thoughts. And the rest of the dirty dishes. Ryan sighed to himself.


	23. The Lab

Twenty Three:

Ryan couldn't help but to stare at Rick.

He was walking around the lab, stalking around and looking very upset. He was obviously looking for something, more likely someone. Ryan was just glad he wasn't the one being talked to. Since Horatio had been back, Ryan and Rick hadn't spoken too often. And of course they wouldn't. Why would they? It wasn't like they were friends or anything.

Except that Ryan had expected them to speak some. Maybe even a 'hello'. But that never happened either.

If Rick saw Ryan, he didn't acknowledge him. He would just go on doing whatever it was he was doing. Ryan had tried to say hi to him a couple of times, but both of those just went ignored. So, Ryan stopped trying. He wondered what made this sudden change in Rick. Was it the fact that they were never close to begin with? So maybe Rick just taking things back the way it was. Or maybe it was because Ryan had rejected Rick? Or maybe even both.

Calleigh nudged Ryan with a smile. "Spacin' out on me again. What's going on, Ryan?"

"Oh, nothing. Sorry." Ryan chuckled. "I just didn't get too much sleep last night. I had heartburn and I had to keep rushing to the bathroom. It was awful. I kept Horatio up all night, too."

Calleigh nodded, sympathetically. "Maybe you should take some time off. You know, rest up since you had this very big secret case, and to give your body a break. And then that way you can spend more time with Horatio."

"I'm fine, I should just try to focus more on work."

"Well alright." Calleigh answered. "Horatio comes back next week right? We all miss him."

"Yeah he does. He misses everyone, too. All he can talk about it getting back to work."

"Same ol' Horatio Caine." She handed Ryan a file and pat his back. Then, she left the room.

Ryan opened the file to familiarize himself with whatever case Calleigh was working on. Since Ryan couldn't go out on the field, he was stuck inside the lab going over evidence and doing desk duty. He flipped through the pages when he had a very odd feeling. Like he was being watched. Like someone was standing right behind him.

"Rick, don't sneak up on people." He warned. "It's creepy. You're like a cat."

Rick had a very straight face. "Can I speak to you in my office, Mr. Wolfe?"

_Uh-oh_ , Ryan thought. Rick was always professional, but this was definitely his professional voice. Ryan nodded quickly and put the file in a drawer. He then walked out of the lab room behind Rick. A few people had looked at him, but of course they didn't say anything.

The elevator ride was incredibly quiet. Ryan didn't even want to glance in Rick's direction. When they heard the ding, and the doors opened, Rick walked swiftly past his receptionist and into his office. Ryan had to lightly jog to keep up. When Ryan got into the office, Rick told him to close the door behind him, so he did.

"Take a seat, please." Rick instructed.

Ryan did as he was told, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I just spoke to Ron Saris. Or actually his lawyers." Rick stated.

"Why does he have lawyers?"

"Apparently, Ron thinks that we are somehow going to take away his immunity. Or be assassinated on his way to the courthouse to testify against Julia. Anyways, he refuses to testify now."

"What?"

Rick put his hand up, so Ryan wouldn't interrupt him. "Without his testimony, I think the whole case is still pretty open and shut. We still have Dan and Natalia's confessions. So they'll all remain in prison. But, his lawyers have informed me that Ron will testify if you don't. Meaning, you won't be able to tell the court about or prove your findings in the case."

Ryan gaped. "But-."

"Dave cannot either. And I obviously can't."

"If none of us testify and provide our evidence it just negates everything. Natalia and Dan can just lie and say they never told us anything, or that it was all Julia. And they could be let go." Ryan answered.

"I know."

"I have to testify."

"I know." Rick nodded. He folded his arms across his chest. "I told his lawyer that it would be impossible to get you to agree to leave it alone. So they said fine. Ron refuses. I just wanted to let you know."

Ryan nodded, too. "Have you told Horatio yet?"

"No, I thought maybe you'd want to be the one to tell him."

"You just don't want him to get on your back about giving Ron immunity again."

Rick shrugged. "If that happened, I think you'd defend me again." Rick answered. And Ryan thought for a moment. He might have defended Rick again, sure. But he really didn't want to have to tell Horatio that Ron now didn't want to testify. Then Ryan would have to listen to Horatio complain about Rick giving him immunity. "That's all I wanted to talk about. You can go now." Rick told him, as he started writing on a piece of paper that sat on top of his desk.

Rick had continued writing, even when he noticed that Ryan hadn't left. Rick didn't even bother to look up at the man to know Ryan was fidgeting with his fingers, wanting to say something but not saying it. Rick sighed. "Was there something else we needed to talk about?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not something we needed to talk about. Just something I hoped we could, I guess."

Rick only continued writing. "If it doesn't have anything to do with work, then we can't." Rick answered. He stared at what he was writing for a few seconds. "If it's personal, I can meet you after work somewhere." He wrote a line through a word and then put the cap back on his pen, finally looking up. His eyebrows were raised as he looked at Ryan expectantly, who then finally answered him.

"Yeah that'd be great. Where do you wanna-?"

"My place is ideal. I have work to do now so if you don't mind." Rick said.

Ryan said okay and stood up to leave the room. He opened the door and spotted Rick's receptionist staring hard at him. It was weird, he thought, but he really didn't want to question it. So he just continued on his way back down to the lab.

Moments later, Ryan looked up when he heard a knocking on the break room door. It was Calleigh, smiling as always.

"Hey, Rick said you two were getting together later?"

Ryan hesitated. "Uh, yeah we are."

"Great, listen I need a favor." She said. "Eric and I have to finish cleaning up the house and get everything ready for the party. So I was wondering if you could pick the cake up for me? It's already ordered and paid for, you only have to grab it and bring it to the party."

"Oh yeah, sure. No problem." Ryan answered. Calleigh said her thanks and left the room. He wondered if Calleigh just assumed that he would be going to Rick's house. She would have been correct, but Ryan still wondered. The closest specialty cake shop was close to Rick's home. Extremely close; like a 3 minute drive. Ryan wondered if Rick had been invited to the party. Everyone in the lab had been invited but normally that invitation didn't extend to him. Then again, Ryan didn't see why he would be considering Rick and Horatio just couldn't get along. Nor could Rick or Calleigh, or Rick and Eric, or Rick and anyone, really.

Ryan sighed to himself as he started to clean up the lab.

He had started backward, about to turn to the left side when he was stopped abruptly. He ran into something. _Someone_.

"Rick! Stop sneaking up on people." He almost yelled.

"I think you're just losing your hearing." Rick answered nonchalantly. "Just telling you I'm heading out. And not to take too long cuz I have other things to do."

"Oh like what? Night in, watching movies alone?"

"No, I have a date."

For some reason, that surprised Ryan. He just stopped talking, which Rick thought was abnormal. Ryan almost asked him with who, but he didn't think that would have been appropriate. Rick, not sensing the sudden weirdness in the air just shook his head. "Okay then. See you. Don't take too long."

Ryan nodded. "No, I uh," he laughed, "I'm just finishing up here and I'll be over. Maybe an hour."

Rick didn't answer him, he just left the room.

Ryan stood there a few more moments before remembering what he was even doing. He was cleaning up his mess and then leaving. Simple enough. He also remembered to send a quick text to Horatio to let him know that he'd be home a little later than usual. When Horatio asked where he was going, Ryan wasn't sure if he should tell Horatio.

So he didn't answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a while; hope you're still reading!


	24. Selfish

Twenty Four:

"I'm guessing you just want me dead."

"What? No, he'll be mad but-."

" _Mad_? He'll be pissed and will attack me."

"His arm is broken, I doubt he can do much damage anyways." Ryan said.

Rick raised his eyebrow as he took a drink from his coffee mug. "I don't get you. You told me you weren't going to tell him. There was no need to, and okay, that was fine with me. I don't want to get in the middle of your drama anyways. But now you want to because you feel guilty."

"He deserves to know."

"That's incredibly selfish."

"Selfish? How the hell is that selfish?" Ryan was dumbfounded.

Rick looked at Ryan as if he were an idiot and sat his coffee mug back down.

"The reason you're telling Horatio that we kissed isn't because he 'deserves to know'. You were more than fine to keep this a secret just a week ago. But now you feel guilty and want to clear your conscious. You're doing this for your own benefit and not his. It will make you feel better while it crushes him. That is selfish, Ryan." Rick answered. He looked down at his watch on his wrist. Once again, as he had seemingly every ten minutes. Ryan figured he really wanted him to leave so he could get ready for his…

Date.

"It's not going to make me feel better. Horatio will be upset- there's no way that would make me feel good. It will probably make me feel worse than I do already. But it just has to be done." Ryan told Rick. "I wasn't asking your permission or for your approval. I made up my mind, I was just forewarning you."

Rick shrugged yet again. "Well thanks for that. Are we done now?"

"You know, I almost thought that we were okay. I didn't think we were friends, but I thought that we had at least came to an understanding."

"What?"

"Why are you acting like that? I think you acknowledge me less now than before all of this happened."

"Am I supposed to run to you with my tail wagging?" Rick asked. "Am I supposed to go out of my way just to say hello to you? Why should I; you don't."

"Well, because it's awkward…"

"Really, I hadn't noticed."

Ryan sighed. He didn't think this conversation was going too well.

"I hate that you're mad at me." Ryan said quietly. Rick thought that his mind was playing tricks on him. There was no way Ryan Wolfe would say that to him. But yet, he had. "Before this shit, I wouldn't have cared. I would've just ignored you and let you ignore me- didn't matter. But now it's different. And I hate it. Do you think I take joy out of this? I might have potentially ruined my already damaged relationship. Horatio's going to be upset. And I hurt you. That sucks, too."

Rick looked at his watch again, and Ryan watched he pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I might've been out of line. I shouldn't have kissed you, anyways. You were pretty vulnerable. So, I apologize for that. You shouldn't feel so bad- I did this to myself."

"What do you mean?"

Rick chuckled. "Well, I kissed you. And what did I expect? It's not like you would leave Horatio to be with me or something like that. That's just insane, really. It's my fault."

"You have a date anyways. Seems you've moved on."

Rick breathed out harshly through his nose and he had a strained smile on his face. His head tilted to the left slightly, as he shook it and waved his hands for emphasis. "See, that's exactly it! You keep tricking me. Making me believe for just one second that you might like me, too. It's that damn tone of voice. Like now, it actually seems like you're disappointed I have a date."

"No, I'm glad you have a date. You helped me out so much- you deserve a night out for fun. I'm just," Ryan tried to find the right words, "I don't know. You moved on quick."

"Who says I've moved on?"

"Do you really want me to leave Horatio for you?" Ryan questioned. He knew Rick liked him. That was pretty damn obvious now. But for some reason, that thought never crossed his mind.

"Would you?"

"No."

"Then it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're with Horatio. And you're going to have his babies. And I just have to move on." Rick told him.

"Why did you tell Calleigh we were getting together?" Ryan asked Rick, genuinely curious. He was surprised that Rick had told her. He wanted to know if Calleigh asked him, or if Rick just gave up that information without a second thought. Rick waved his hand. "She cornered me and asked me if I was coming to Horatio's party tonight. I kept telling her 'we'll see, we'll see' just to get her off my back about it. But today, she kept asking, and so I told her I wasn't sure but that I was seeing you later and would talk about it with you. You know, about if it would be appropriate or not."

"Did you tell her we would be at your house?"

"Nope. Why, did she ask?"

"No, she just asked me to pick up a cake for Horatio's party." He said, realizing that might have sounded strange. But Rick seemed to have picked up on the fact that his house was close to the bakery. Rick made a face, but he said he had no idea why Calleigh would insinuate Ryan was going to Rick's house. "Maybe she just thinks we're friends that hang out at each other's place. Or maybe she still thinks we're sleeping together." Rick suggested. Ryan definitely didn't want to hear that.

"Why won't you come to Horatio's party? You might have fun. Everyone will be there."

"Yeah, everyone that hates me, including Horatio. I'm not welcomed."

"You are, kinda. Calleigh invited you. She's extending the olive branch. Maybe you can do the same thing for everyone else." Ryan nudged Rick, who only chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think my showing up to Horatio's party is appropriate. After all, I did feel his boyfriend up. That kind of thing makes people unwanted."

"You could bring your date. If the lab see's you with someone else, it could squash those rumors about us for good. " Ryan shrugged.

Rick stared at Ryan with his eyes squinted. He then drank out of his cup. "Selfish, Wolfe."


	25. Another Party

Twenty Five:

Horatio wasn't too surprised when he saw his name on a large banner. He kind of figured that the party would end up being for him anyways. But he wasn't upset or anything. More touched really, that the lab would go through so much trouble for him.

Alana had been dropped off at her big brother, Kyle's house. He volunteered to watch her for the night, saying that he wanted to take her out anyways. They needed a day together. And of course that wasn't a problem to Horatio or Ryan. Kyle didn't even need to be asked if he would watch Alana.

Horatio was a little upset when Ryan told him that they couldn't drive to the party together. Horatio texted Ryan asking him where he went after work. Then we he didn't answer, he called Ryan. This also went unanswered. But when Ryan finally called him back, he told him that he was picking up the cake. Ryan also let it slip that he had wanted to stop to buy Horatio something special. So, Horatio figured that was the reason his text and call went unanswered.

So Ryan told him that he would just meet Horatio at the party, because if he drove all the way home first then they'd both be late. And he definitely didn't want Horatio to be late to his own party.

When Horatio arrived, people immediately starting cheering and clapping. They expressed that they missed him and was glad to see him again. This was very nice, and it definitely moved Horatio to know that so many people loved and cared about him.

He approached Calleigh first and was met with a soft hug, her being careful to not crush him or squeeze too hard. She didn't want to hurt him. Eric was next, he first shook Horatio's hand before bringing him into a hug, too. Mostly the others just shook his hand or pat him on the back, but it was still nice. For the first half hour of the party, it was spent with Horatio making rounds and thanking people for coming. An hour into it, was spent with Horatio dancing a little bit with Valera.

The party had been going on for an hour and a half.

A hour and a half and Ryan still hadn't shown up yet.

Calleigh and Eric thought that was strange, too. Eric had initially thought that he had missed Ryan and that he was already there. But when he asked Horatio where Ryan was, he was told that he didn't know either. The couple frowned, Eric put his arm around her waist as Calleigh checked the time on her wristwatch.

"The cake shop is only about 20 minutes away. He should definitely be here by now." Calleigh concluded. But Eric shrugged it off. "He said he was stopping somewhere else, right? And there could be traffic. It is a Friday night, after all."

Horatio shook his head. "I don't know, just seems weird. Last party we went to, I got abducted. And no one knows where Ron Saris is now, so he could be back here in Miami. I'll call him again."

Walter had made his way over to the rest of the gang, having heard most of the conversation. "You guys are looking for Ryan, right?" He pointed to the stairs on the other side of the room. "I saw him and Rick go upstairs a few minutes ago. He said hi to me. Weird that Rick's here, knowing Horatio probably wants to kill him." He laughed.

Eric and Calleigh suddenly got quiet. Horatio definitely noticed the shift in the mood. Walter, realizing that he had just put his foot in his mouth, excused himself and went to talk to other people.

"Why would I want to kill Rick?"

Calleigh shrugged and chuckled. "Well we all know how you guys get when you're together. You fight tooth and nail with each other."

Eric just nodded. "I'm, uh, just going to go greet Ryan and Rick." He released Calleigh's waist and started up the stairs, looking back to make sure Horatio wasn't following. Eric shook his head and continued up the stairs of Calleigh's place. It was practically his home too, as he was here almost every single day. So because of that, he knew where everything was.

As soon as he got up the stairs, he could go left or right. On the left was Calleigh's bedroom, and a bathroom. On the right, was a guest bedroom, and a room that Calleigh had converted to her office. So, Eric went left. All of the doors were shut, but once upstairs there was nowhere else to go.

He knocked first before entering the bathroom. Nothing. The room was dark and no one was in it. He knew that no one would be in Calleigh's bedroom but he tried anyways. He was right; Calleigh had her door locked, so no one could get in there anyways. So, Eric continued on, walking to the office room. That door was locked, too. Which made sense, really. Everyone here at the party were all friends and Calleigh trusted them. But still, her office was filled with expensive stuff. So of course she locked it. That only left the guest room.

Eric was starting to wonder if maybe Rick and Ryan had gone downstairs already and Walter had just missed them. But he decided anyways to check the guest room, expecting that room to be locked too. For some reason, Eric decided to knock on the door. Now, he'd spoken to Ryan about the incident, a little bit. And Ryan made it clear that nothing had happened. But still, Eric for some reason felt a need to knock. Then he opened the door and looked inside.

The room was dark so at first he couldn't see anything. But then he heard Ryan's voice.

"Eric?"

"Wolfe? Is Stetler in here with you?" Eric touched the wall, trying to find the light switch. When he found it and flicked the switch, he saw Rick laying down flat on his back on the bed. His feet were dangling off of the side, touching the ground. Ryan was sitting down on the bed next to Rick, his body facing him. "What's going on in here?"

"He's drunk." Ryan said. "He's completely hammered. He decided he wanted to come and then convinced me to stop at the store first to buy alcohol. Well, guess who drank all the alcohol before we even got here? Here's a hint; not the pregnant guy. I didn't want to take him home cuz one, I'd be even more late and two, he freaked out on me when I suggested it."

Eric came over to the bed and looked at Rick. His eyes were a little glossy and his skin felt cool. All he needed to do was get Rick to talk and he'd know he was drunk. But that was unnecessary, as Eric could smell the alcohol on him the moment he got close to them.

"Go get him some water and some food." Eric instructed. "Oh, and tell Horatio you're here. He was worried."

Ryan looked at Eric. "He's worried about me?"

"Yeah, you're more than an hour late. He thought maybe Ron Saris…"

Ryan just nodded and got off of the bed. He made his way down the hall and down the stairs. He saw both Calleigh and Horatio look at him. He decided to make talking to Horatio his number one priority. Calleigh was all smiles when Ryan approached them. Ryan tried not to look stressed out after dealing with the drunk man-child that is Rick. He smiled too. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. We had a little problem."

Calleigh looked scared. "Oh no, is the cake messed up? Or did you forget it?"

"No, no the cake's fine. It's in the kitchen already." Ryan answered. "Rick and I had a little problem but I think it's being handled."

"Eric is handling it?" Calleigh asked, skeptical because, well, she knew Eric. Ryan nodded. "Yeah, actually I'm just getting something for him so I have to go back."

Ryan noticed Horatio's eyes were dead-set on him, studying him. He knew that look all too well- it was his half sympathetic, half curious face. That face usually happened before Horatio revealed he knew something was up. Ryan grabbed Horatio's hand. "I'm okay. I'm sorry I'm late. But I'll come back and tell you all about it. You might think it's funny, actually."

Horatio smiled a little. "Okay, you go handle the situation."

Ryan nodded and released Horatio's hand. Then he was off again. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a small bag of chips and a bottled water. He then went back up the stairs and into the guest room where he saw a very angry looking Eric.

"Something happen?" Ryan cautiously asked.

Eric shook his head. "He's just more annoying drunk."

Rick leaned up. His hair looked a mess and his face was pretty slack. " _I'm_ annoying? _You're_ annoying! You come down so hard on me for trying to do my job as if I'm not supposed to do it. You act like you're big and bad and all mighty toward me for no reason. You get in trouble because you get yourself in trouble. I wouldn't ever have to talk to you if you would just stay out of trouble." Rick answered, his speech was fast paced and slurred but he definitely got his point across.

Ryan had to admit that for the most part, Rick was just doing his job. They did sometimes get mad at him, but he was doing his job.

Eric looked very mad. He just shook his head and stood up. "Why don't you deal with this, Ryan?" Eric walked past him and out of the room. "You can probably handle him anyways."

Ryan watched Eric leave before turning back to Rick. Rick was lying down again, his head was turned though, facing Ryan. Ryan handed him the bottled water first and told him to drink it as he sat down on the edge of the bed again. "Your date is supposed to meet you here. She's probably already here, wondering where you are."

"Oh, I should go down there, then."

"I'm worried you're going to make an ass out of yourself." Ryan told him, opening the bottle for Rick after watching him fumble with it for a while. "Just stay up here for a little while and try to sober up. I can probably get you some coffee if you want. It won't make you sober but it'll trick your body into thinking you are."

Rick reached out and touched Ryan's arm gently. Probably because he couldn't grip it. "No, no. Stay with me."

Ryan chuckled. "I have to go back downstairs. Horatio was worried about me so I have to make sure he knows I'm okay."

Rick smiled. "Stay and make sure I'm okay."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Then my job is done." Ryan stood up and touched Rick's forehead and then his cheek. "You seem fine, really. But I'll be back in a little while to check on you. Tell me what this girl looks like so I can keep an eye out for her."

Rick, still touching Ryan's arm started to move his hand, grazing his arm up and down. "Hmm, she has long black hair. Green eyes. Pale skin. She's just beautiful. Stunning. You'd know it was her immediately." Rick paused for a moment. "Her name's Holly."

Ryan nodded and left the room again, shutting the door behind him. So far this wasn't going too well. Ryan made his way back downstairs, and saw Horatio sitting down with Walter. They were both drinking and laughing about something. When Horatio saw Ryan, he waved him over to them.

"Everything okay?" Horatio asked Ryan.

He nodded. "Yeah, kind of. Rick's drunk." Ryan told him. "On our way here he asked me to stop at the store. He said he wanted to bring something to 'make a good impression'. But then he got nervous and decided one beer would calm him. Then a second beer would. Then by the time we went to go pick up the cake he could barely get out the car."

"Why didn't you take him home?" Walter laughed.

"I tried but he kept saying he was fine and that if I took him home he'd 'never forgive me'." Ryan laughed. "Really, he didn't seem that bad until we actually got here. When he opened the car door he just… fell out. I had to get him upstairs so he's there waiting to sober up a little bit. At least to the point where he can walk by himself."

Horatio cracked a small smile and Ryan heard him chuckle. He was sure he was imagining Rick falling out of the car. Which, Ryan thought was hilarious at the time. He definitely laughed before he helped him up and into the house. "Are you having fun?" Ryan asked Horatio.

He nodded and wrapped his arm around Ryan's shoulder, bringing him closer. Ryan breathed in deeply, smelling Horatio's cologne. He always liked the way it smelled. Walter took a drink of his beer. "Walter, have you seen a girl here you don't recognize? Black hair, green eyes, and pale skin?"

Walter scanned the room before shaking his head. "No, why; who is she?"

"Rick's date. We're waiting for her to show up."

"Rick has a date?" Horatio inquired. Ryan nodded and hummed in response. "Apparently she's beautiful. _Stunning_ , as he describes it."

He heard Walter laugh. "Why'd you say it like that; like you already hate her?"

"Did I?"

Horatio agreed, smiling. "You kind of did."

Ryan just shrugged. "I don't think so. Anyways if you see her just let me know please."

"Is that her?" Horatio pointed. "Over there talking to Valera and Calleigh?"

Ryan turned around and he swear his breathing stopped and his heart skipped. There was a girl there he'd never seen before. Her eyes were so incredibly green. Ryan suddenly wondered how dull his eyes were compared to his. His eyes were hazel in the center, but green around the edges. Not as vibrant as hers. Even from across the room he could see them. Her hair was indeed long and black, but it was up in a ponytail. And she wore a red dress that was skin tight, with sleeves and the hem went down to her knees. It looked classy. She looked classy. And beautiful.

Then she looked right at Ryan. She smiled at him and then nodded to Valera and Calleigh. She started walking over toward him. Ryan practically stared at her the whole time. She got close and spoke. Even her voice was sweet. "Hi, are you Ryan? I'm Holly; Rick told me to find you." She held her hand out which Ryan took as he stood up.

"Yeah, hi. I'm Ryan. Ryan Wolfe. You're here for Rick." He felt idiotic for saying that.

"I am." She glanced at Horatio and Walter. Walter waved from his seat, as did Horatio.

"Hi, I'm Walter."

"I'm Horatio."

Holly smiled again. "Horatio Caine the lieutenant. It's very nice to meet you. You too, Walter."

Ryan knew the look Walter was giving her. He definitely thought she was attractive. Even Horatio looked at her the same way with admiration in his eyes. "I'll go get Rick for you. He's just upstairs." Ryan said, breaking the silence and causing Horatio to look at him again. Walter didn't. He just stared at Holly. Ryan started walking off but noticed Holly was following behind him. So obviously she wanted to go to Rick, too.

They went up the stairs and into the room where he last left Rick. He was leaning up on the bed and staring at the mirror across from him. Holly spoke before Ryan even had a chance to. "Hey Rick." She said. Rick turned around and a smile was planted on his face. "Hi. Wow, you look great."

Ryan frowned as Holly walked closer to Rick.

_He's not slurring anymore_ , he thought.

"I'll just leave you two alone then." Ryan said.

Rick shook his head as he stood up and took Holly's hand. "No, we're coming downstairs. Thanks Ryan." He told him.

Holly and Rick walked out of the room and Ryan walked behind them. Holly kept glancing at Rick and then giggling at nothing. It was pretty annoying, Ryan had thought. But Rick seemed to like it. He continued walking until he was with Horatio and Walter again, noticing that Eric, Valera and Calleigh were sitting with them, too. "She's so pretty." Valera said.

"Oh my god, she's gorgeous." Calleigh agreed.

Walter nodded. "Rick got _her_? Where did they even meet cuz I need to go there!" He said, causing Eric, Calleigh and Valera to laugh. But Horatio didn't laugh. He only smiled and moved over on the couch, making room for Ryan to sit down. So he did.

"So Wolfe, heard you got Horatio a gift?" Eric grinned. "Trying to outdo us?"

"No. I can't do that anyways. You're the ones that threw the party for him."

"Where are these gifts? We got him some stuff, too." Calleigh said.

Ryan groaned. "Oh, I left them in my car. I'll go-."

Horatio stopped him. "It's okay, there's no rush. I'll just look at them at home."

Ryan nodded as Calleigh giggled at something. "We got him some white undershirts. They're upstairs though. I'll get them before you leave."

After about thirty minutes of them all talking, Ryan noticed Rick was walking around, looking very confused. He waited as Rick made his way toward their group. "Have you guys seen Holly? She said she was going to the bathroom but she's been gone a while. I checked and there's nobody up there."

"Think she came to her senses and ditched you?" Eric asked. His tone said it was a joke, but they all knew better. They knew he was being serious. Rick didn't even bother to look in his direction. "Ryan, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Ryan looked at Horatio, as if asking for permission. Which he kinda was, really. He hadn't been able to spend much time with Horatio today, and it was his party. He was late and then he spent time taking care of Rick first. Horatio nodded and pat his shoulder lightly. Ryan got up and walked with Rick to the other side of the room.

"What's up?"

"Her car is still outside but she's gone. I checked all over this place but I can't find her. It's just weird and no one else has seen her."

Ryan did think that was weird. Now that he thought about it, he did see Holly go up the stairs. She was alone and he didn't think anything of it. That was maybe ten or fifteen minutes ago. But he hadn't seen her come back downstairs. But also, Ryan hadn't seen anyone else go up the stairs either.

"Have you called her?"

"Yeah, twice but it went straight to voicemail. So maybe her phone died?" Rick suggested.

As they were talking, they noticed the front door was opened and some people were exiting. But they had stopped suddenly and screamed. Ryan was startled, and Rick was definitely just as shocked. Horatio and Eric immediately sprung up and into action, going through the people starting to crowd the door. Eric was yelling telling everyone to get out of the way. Some listened, others didn't so he started to push people. He was the first out, followed by Horatio.

They both just stood there wondering what the hell was going on when they heard Eric yell out "someone call an ambulance; she's not breathing!"


	26. Ryan and Rick

Twenty Six:

Ryan sat with Rick the whole time.

Rick sat with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands covering his face. He was also shaking his right leg up and down quickly.

They'd been there for a while, it was a little after midnight now.

Calleigh had ran outside, phone in hand dialing for the ambulance to come. She was outside for a bit before she came back inside. Ryan knew just from the way Rick was standing that he also knew this obviously involved Holly. Ricks face looked full of dread as Calleigh approached them. She put her hand up and shook her head. She told Rick that it was Holly; shocker. Rick asked what happened but she said she didn't know. She started telling people that they might as well sit and get comfortable, because they were now a part of an investigation. So no one could leave.

As people moved from the doorway, Ryan caught a glance of outside. He couldn't see clearly because Eric was in the way, but he saw Holly lying flat on her back in the grass. Her red dress was stained a deeper red and he could see blood. Horatio was kneeling next to Holly, keeping her head elevated. Then someone shut the front door, blocking their view. Which Ryan thought might have been a good idea so that Rick didn't have to look at her.

And so they were in the hospital, waiting. Horatio and Eric were off talking to some officers that Ryan definitely knew. Calleigh was talking to Alexx Woods, their long-time friend from the lab that now worked in the hospital.

Rick looked terrible. He looked like he wanted to throw up and and faint at the same time. Ryan caught himself glancing around first before putting his hand on Rick's back, getting his attention. "She's still alive, Rick. She'll be alright."

"I know, but," he shook his head. "She was hurt. And no one saw a thing. She never came down the stairs but the windows upstairs were closed. How the hell did she get outside?"

"I don't know. But you can't beat yourself up over it."

"We shouldn't have came to the party. We were just going to go out to dinner and have a normal night. I knew it was a bad idea." Rick answered. He took his hands off his face and just held them in front of him, arms still resting on his knees. Ryan felt bad. Rick seemed to be taking this extremely hard. Ryan wondered just how long Rick actually knew Holly and how deep his feelings were toward her. But that wasn't a very good conversation to have at the moment.

Rick stood when Alexx approached them. "Hey guys. How you doing, Rick?"

"I've been better. How's Holly?"

"Well, she's breathing. She lost a lot of blood so she went into shock. But she's stable now." Alexx told him, her voice gentle as she spoke. "The toxicology report hasn't came back so we don't know if there are any drugs or alcohol in her system, but we don't think there is."

"Anything else? Do you guys know what happened?"

Alexx nodded. "Someone hurt her really bad. There's bruising on her chest, consisting with being punched. And she has some stab wounds in her stomach and her sides- some are deep, some are shallow. But none are fatal. We'll be giving the reports to the lab so you guys can run DNA tests on them. She said she had no idea who it was that attacked her. She said she doesn't even know how she got outside."

"Can I see her?"

"Unfortunately no. Visiting hours are from 11:00am until 8:00pm. And she's sleeping again right now and we need her expressed permission to let you in. Sorry, Rick, but I'll let you know."

He only agreed, saying that he knew that she was right. He sat back down. Alexx turned her attention back to Ryan. "I think you should go home and get some rest for yourself and your baby."

"You're right. I just want to stay behind with Rick for a little longer. Then I'll tell Horatio when I'm leaving." Ryan said.

Alexx said okay, and then turned to leave. Calleigh approached Ryan and Rick, expressing that she was sorry about what happened and telling them that she was leaving, going to Eric's house. Rick told her that it was okay, since it wasn't her fault. He told her to have a good night and then she left.

"You can go home, too." Rick told Ryan. "Alexx is right. You need your sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'm staying here for maybe another hour."

"I can't leave you here. I was your ride anyways." Ryan answered. "You stuck by me with Horatio. I'll stick by you with Holly. And don't worry, we'll find out exactly what happened to her and why. And don't blame yourself- you had no idea this would happen."

Rick was quiet. But he had reached out and his hand touched Ryan's. To his surprise, Rick left it there but gripped it softly. Ryan just looked down at their joining hands, unsure of if he should just pull his hand back or let Rick continue on.

Rick had closed his eyes and just breathed in and out. Ryan just watched him as he did. Rick was obviously trying to remain calm but it seemed like he was extremely upset. And of course he was, he had every right to be.

"Ryan?"

Horatio's voice startled Ryan, whose mind had been racing. Ryan let go of Rick's hand and stood up and approached his boyfriend. Horatio took Ryan's hand and pulled him away farther from Rick. Horatio glanced at Rick, who was looking right at them. "I talked to the officers. Holly had some marks around her neck like someone tried to strangle her with something."

"How did they even get in the bathroom with her?" Ryan asked. "I admit I didn't see anyone go upstairs after her, but I could've missed them."

Horatio just shook his head. "I don't know. Calleigh has to leave her house since technically, it's now a crime scene so she'll be staying with Eric for the time being. I talked to Dave, and he said that he had gotten a phone call from someone asking for Rick. We don't know if that's connecting, but we don't see why someone would call him for Rick, so we're going to look into it. We are also pushing for Rick to stay in a hotel room for a little while until we know for sure if he's also being targeted."

As Horatio spoke, Eric went up to Rick and began talking to him. Ryan couldn't hear what they were talking about. But he saw Rick nod his head slowly. Eric turned and looked right at Ryan. But he didn't maintain eye contact. He just shook his head and walked off. Ryan thought that was a little weird but he didn't say anything about it.

Ryan nodded. "Okay. That's good."

"I'm going to head home. Do you want to take Rick home or do you want me to, or an officer to escort him?"

"I'll ask him if he wants me to take him." Ryan said.

Horatio had looked down for a while and nodded. "I knew you'd say that." He kissed Ryan on the cheek. "I'll see you at home, then. I'm going to let Alana stay at Kyle's tonight, it's too late to bring her back now. Kyle already said it was alright."

Horatio let go of Ryan's hand and then he said goodbye to Rick. Rick waved to Horatio as he left the hospital. Ryan walked back over to Rick. Rick automatically stood up. "Eric told me it'd probably be best for me to stay in a hotel for a while. I'm guessing that's what Horatio told you, too?"

"Yeah, and actually he wanted to know what you planned on doing. Do you want me to take you or do you want to maybe ask an officer?"

"Do you want to take me?"

"Well, I can. It's no problem. Is that what you want?" Ryan asked, again. Rick thought for a second and then shrugged. Ryan took that as a yes, seeing as Rick grabbed his jacket off of the chair. Ryan did the same thing with his own jacket and they both exited the hospital. Ryan wanted to say goodbye to Alexx first, but he couldn't find her. She was probably too busy.

As they pulled up to the closest hotel, Ryan had a question burning in his mind. "Were you pretending to be drunk?" He questioned. "I've been thinking about it and I realized that you did down a lot of beers in an hour. I saw you drink two, but I didn't see you drink anymore. So-."

Rick cut him off as he took off his seat-belt. "I dumped a can into the grass while you used the bathroom at the store. And the other one, I kept pouring into that water bottle that you have hidden under your seat when you weren't looking. I did drink two, though." His response was so frank and matter-of-fact like. Like it was nothing.

"You just wanted my attention." Ryan concluded.

Rick made a soft noise. "I shouldn't have brought Holly there. We should've just gone out to dinner like we planned. But no. I had to bring her there."

Ryan sighed. "So you wanted my attention so you pretended to be drunk. Did you agree to come to the party with Holly to make me jealous?"

"I wanted to go to dinner with her. I thought she could help me with moving on." Rick answered. "But then you asked me to come to the party and I thought 'wow, what a perfect time to make him jealous'. And now Holly's hurt."

"You didn't know that would happen. Seriously, it's not your fault."

"You don't care that I did this for your attention?"

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know how I feel about it. I'm flattered."

"Right. I should go inside. See if they have any open rooms. I'll see you later." Rick got out of the car and dashed off, inside of the building before Ryan could even say something to him. Ryan waited outside for about ten minutes, just to make sure Rick was able to get a room there. He didn't come back out, so he assumed that he had. So then, Ryan left and drove home. Wanting to just crawl into bed and go to sleep.

And give Horatio his gifts.

He made sure to grab the bags out of the car and made his way inside. The house was pretty dark, and he wouldn't have been so sure that Horatio was home if he hadn't seen his car parked in the driveway. Ryan made his way to the house and into the bedroom he and Horatio shared. The light was on but he didn't see Horatio.

Ryan put the bag on the bed and started to get undressed, taking off his shirt and his pants, deciding to just wait for Horatio to come into the room. He figured he was just downstairs, which was soon confirmed when he heard the sound of water running from the kitchen.

Then soft footsteps on the stairs and then silence. Horatio stood in the doorway.

"I brought your gifts in. I think you're going to like them." Ryan told him. "I got you some ties and new cuff-links for your suits. They're definitely your style."

"Thank you." Horatio said.

But he just stood there with a glass of water in his hand.

"You gonna come into the room or just stand there staring?" Ryan laughed.

Horatio looked down and formed a small smile. He stepped farther into the room and wrapped his arm around Ryan in a weak half-hug. Ryan felt a little strange. The whole interaction was just weird to him. Something was definitely wrong. "Horatio…?"

"I'm going to sleep in the guest room tonight." Horatio said.

Ryan released Horatio from the hug and looked at him with wide eyes. Horatio never slept there. Ryan never slept there. If there was something wrong, they always made it a point to make up before going to bed. When Horatio started going out at night when he was mad at Ryan, he still came home and slept in their shared bed. The only time they didn't sleep together was when someone was too tired and fell asleep on the couch downstairs. But that was it.

"What, why? What's wrong?"

"I know about you and Rick."

Ryan's heart had started to race. He opened and shut his mouth a few times to speak, but he didn't quite know what to say.

"Why?" Horatio asked, his voice still soft yet incredulous. His whole demeanor was soft, really. He didn't seem angry. Or even sad. "I would never do that to you, Ryan."

Ryan frantically began shaking his head. "I know you wouldn't. You're better than that. I don't what's wrong with me, Horatio."

"Because you wanted it to happen. You liked the attention." Horatio told him. Immediately after he said it, his lips pursed. He rolled his eyes and put his hand on his head. "No, I didn't mean to say that. You were-."

"No, you're right. I liked the attention." Ryan answered, softly. "I wasn't getting it from anyone else, so I turned to Rick. And I did want it to happen. At the time. After things started progressing, I didn't want it anymore. I don't like the way Rick kissed or touched me. I only like the way you do those things to me. Because I love you, and I'm so sorry for doing this. I really didn't mean to."

"But it happened. You didn't mean to but it happened. And then you continuously lied to me about it."

Ryan breathed out harshly. "Who told you; Eric?" He questioned, remembering the quick look Eric gave him at the hospital. Also remembering how strange Horatio had started acting. And then his remark of 'I knew you'd say that'. But to Ryan's surprise, Horatio tilted his head to the side and frowned. "Eric? He uh, he didn't say anything to me. I just knew when I saw you let him hold your hand." Horatio said. "Eric actually tried to excuse that. He said that you were probably just comforting him because he needed it. But now I know that he knew more than he led on. And not to mention your reaction to Holly; just makes sense."

Horatio saw as Ryan's eyes softened, realizing that he just involved Eric now.

"We didn't sleep together. It was just a kiss. I swear."

"There's no such thing as _just a kiss_ when you're in a relationship, Ryan. I don't care if you flirted with him, kissed him or even slept with him. Cheating is cheating. And you cheated on me. And then you lied about it." Horatio answered. "I'm way too tired to argue about this right now. I'm going to bed."

"I was going to tell you. There was never a good time." Ryan knew how stupid that sounded, but it was true. And he'd just spoken to Rick that day about telling Horatio. He really was going to. But now it was far too late. Horatio just stared at Ryan. Then he nodded. "Good night, Ryan. I'll pick up Alana in the morning so you can sleep in. You need your rest. And I don't want you to be stressed out while you're pregnant."

Horatio looked at Ryan one more time before leaving the room.

Ryan sat down on the bed as he listened to his footsteps became quieter. Then, Ryan heard a door slowly shut. And that was that. He listened a little longer to see if the door would open again but it didn't. Ryan looked at the bag for Horatio. He then sighed and just stared back at the door. Waiting for Horatio to come back. But that didn't happen.

_**To be continued...** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I was actually planning on ending the story here (not with the cliffhanger of course), but I really wanted to get into the trial and why Natalia, Dan and Julia plotted against Horatio. And of course the aftermath of the whole 'Rick' situation. So there will be a third (and final(maybe??)) story. I'm already halfway done with it, so I should be uploading it soon. Maybe. Don't hold me to that. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back, back? Back again-gain.


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